From: George Johnson
To: Joe Hoback; Carol Siegstedt; Rebecca Wurzburger
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 5:30 PM
Subject: questions regarding issues on the East Side

Dear Candidate,

Over the last few years, I have organized several dozen residents of the East Side, near Upper Canyon Road and Camino Cabra, to fight against issues we believe threaten to destroy the character of this special part of Santa Fe. The first is the incredible glut of traffic, particularly large diesel-powered commercial vehicles, on East Alameda, East Palace, Camino Cabra, and lower Camino Cruz Blanca. In addition traffic on Upper Canyon and Cerro Gordo Roads has gotten completely out of hand. I was able to collect enough signatures to get Cabra and Cruz Blanca on the list for traffic calming, but that is just the beginning of our needs. My first question is whether you would support a strict size limit on commercial vehicles, including tour buses, east of Paseo de Peralta. I recently noticed in Albuquerque that Tramway Road, a major thoroughfare, has a weight limit of 3 tons. On lower Canyon Road the limit is a whopping 10 tons, and there are no limits whatsoever on East Alameda, Palace, Cabra, or Cruz Blanca. Many cities restrict commercial traffic in residential areas and historic districts. This can actually help the local economy: large loads are transferred to smaller locally-owned delivery vans; out-of-town tourists are transferred to environmentally friendly shuttles like the ones run here by Frank Montano.

The second issue involves the future use of the water tank and surrounding city lands at Upper Canyon and Cabra. Last spring, the city, with no consultation with the neighbors, decided to allow Albuquerque Underground to use the tank site -- for decades a sylvan island of calm -- as a heavy equipment yard and staging ground for a year-long sewer replacement project. Suddenly, those of us living around the tank found our lives overturned. Every morning beginning at 7 a.m., the air was filled with the sound of roaring engines and beeping back-up alarms as the fleet of backhoes and other earth-moving equipment was deployed somewhere in the city; the cacophony was repeated again in the evening when they returned. All this went on for months in the heart of the Eastside residential and historic district. The city manager ignored half a dozen letters signed by some two dozen residents. We finally hired Mark Basham, the former city attorney, to represent us, and the city was persuaded to move the operation to the city yards on Siler Road, where it should have been in the first place. My question is how would you have reacted to a complaint like this from the neighborhood and what might you have done to help?

Finally, many of us are concerned by the impact of the East Side construction boom (the negative side of infill development). In the last year, for example, there were as many as half a dozen major projects within a one-block radius near Camino San Acacio and Camino Delora. The concentration of construction traffic and noise has had a very bad impact on the area. Building is obviously necessary, but government could help minimize the burden with a quota system on building permits that would help ensure that no one block has too many projects going on at once.

Thank you very much for your time in running for office. If I hear back from you soon enough, I will forward your comments to my neighbors, who are all motivated voters.

Sincerely yours,

George Johnson
http://talaya.net


From: Joe Hoback
Date: Sun Feb 24, 2002 08:57:16 PM US/Mountain
To: George Johnson
Subject: Re: questions regarding issues on the East Side

Dear Mr. Johnson,

Thank you for your email. I grew up on Canyon Road and until last year I lived at 1241 Canyon Road, just one house removed from the staging ground you mentioned. The quality of life was just as you described it and I called the City Manager to express my concern and request that this did not become a permanent staging area.

A traffic calming project must be pursued for Upper Canyon Road. This area is becoming more and more dangerous and we must control traffic. I responded to Emily Henry of the Canyon Association about this and I have committed to work with this group to bring some solutions to this problem.

I am in favor of a large truck ban in this area. I will need to do more research on the effect of such a ban, but in principle this seems to be a good idea. Would large moving trucks be allowed to apply for an exception? How are other large truck bans enforced and enacted in other parts of the city?

All construction projects should be reviewed in regards to their impact on water, the neighborhood and the economy. The city must better manage the request for permits and the impact of construction, road work and city maintenance on our neighborhoods. This is especially true for the upper east side since the streets are very narrow, and the impact is much greater.

For example, the sewer line maintenance closed Upper Canyon Road ( I had to drive all the way around Cerro Gordo to get to my house near Cristo Rey church).

I appreciate the opportunity to address these issues. As a city councilor, we should be able to work with everyone to come up with solutions to solve these types of problems.

Please reply if I can answer any more questions and I would be happy to visit with you or your neighbors on the phone (660-1246) to discuss this further.

Many thanks,
Joe Hoback

From Rebecca Wurzburger Fri Mar 1 11:00:56 2002
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 12:59:38 EST
Subject: Re: Questions regarding issues on the East Side
To: George Johnson

Question 1: Traffic/Trucks
I do believe the City should do all within its power to eliminate "cut-through" traffic in residential neighborhoods regardless of the size of the delivery truck. I believe that further restrictions could be placed on delivery schedules of vehicles that must go through neighborhoods to serve existing businesses, such as on Canyon Rd. Finally, I would actively support further enforcement of speed violations by heavy trucks, especially on hillside areas  where speeding trucks are producing high risks to residents, especially pedestrians.

My brief ideas on traffic generally are as follows:

Current City efforts at "traffic calming" are at best a short-term solution that do not deal with the larger questions of

A. how do we reduce the flow of traffic entering the community and
B. how do we reduce the movement within the community.

The answer is to provide alternatives. Specifically I propose:

1. Purchase the right-of-way to Lamy with Federal monies already offered to Santa Fe so a commuter train can run from Lamy/El Dorado to Santa Fe City. (Otherwise this money will have to go back).

2. Reinstate a cost-effective, safe Park and Ride system from Santa Fe to Los Alamos & Espanola.

3. Develop satellite parking areas and jitney service to the plaza for all City, County, and Federal employees

4. Develop with hotels a visitor Park Your Car at the Hotel program with free bus/jitney service to reduce Downtown congestion.

5. Do not reduce current service to Eastside museums.

Question 2: WATER TANK /STAGING ISSUE

I would not let such a situation develop. All City staging projects in residential neighborhoods should have prior approval of neighbors, set hours of operation, & definite completion times. If there is not an ordinance to this effect I will propose one. How I would have handled the situation you describe is to set a meeting with the City Manager and neighbors and not leave the meeting until a satisfactory resolution was agreed upon. Having to hire a private lawyer was a travesty.

Question 3: Controlling construction
I would like to discuss this with you after the election. I believe a better option to limiting permits might be rigid construction daily start & ending schedules and speed contols as outlined above.

(As of 3/4 these are all the responses I've received.)