Borough Assembly drives roundabout landscape discussion
Published Sunday, April 13, 2008
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Stumble It!The Fairbanks North Star Borough is looking to grant money to the city of North Pole to maintain landscaping at a trio of year-old roundabouts, a proposal that has attracted questions from a couple of Borough Assembly members.
The proposed $20,000 grant drew disagreements at a Saturday public meeting focused on an annual spending plan pitched by Mayor Jim Whitaker.
Whitaker called for reeling in public spending until the borough and community get a better grip on skyrocketing energy costs.
Assembly member Tim Beck, a former state transportation worker, used Saturday’s meeting to question whether the borough should pay to help landscape roadways including the roundabouts. He worried trees that anchor the roundabouts could block drivers’ vision and cause accidents, and wondered if paying to help maintain them would raise the risk of potential lawsuits against the borough.
“I anticipate they’re going to see accidents,” Beck said.
Borough officials defended the proposed grant. Public workers don’t beautify many streets, but the major one they do — Airport Way — has drawn more compliments than any other single public landscaping project over the past two decades, Parks and Recreation Department director Karl Kassel said.
Beck’s effort to cut the $20,000 grant fell short by a 7-2 vote.
Travel spending
The assembly did, however, trim more than $10,000 Whitaker had sought to help train elected officials.
The cut, if it survives budget meetings later this spring, would not eliminate travel and training for the assembly altogether. Rather, it would cut about one-third of the budget for travel to conferences hosted around the country by the National Association of Counties.
The reduction would fall in line with across-the-board cuts in professional training for public workers.
“I think that’s still adequate funding for interested assembly members and the borough attorney to go,” said Assembly member Nadine Winters, who proposed the cut.
The assembly will hold a public hearing on the proposed $128 million budget later this spring before bringing it up for a final assembly vote.
Contact staff writer Christopher Eshleman at 459-7582.
Community Discussion
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You have to be kidding me. Come on $20,000 for landscaping. There should be nothing there for people to be looking at when they should be watching the road before them. Seeing how so many people couldn't even figure out how to drive on them. Now we want to turn it into a botanical garden. Wow where are the brains in this one? Besides if you let some of the groups in North pole do it and display their banner, you could most likely get it for free. Hey the refinery lounge might even go for some easy advertising on this one.
What's wrong with using just plain old grass in the roundabout?
Green Grass, Hmmmmm? I like it. Then we could hang a banner for the 4h club up and I bet they could come up with a few sheeps to stake out on the grass to save on cuttings. Then Put a drop box on each roundabout, Hey maybe two. One on each side. Then People would have a real reasong to stop and donate money. With the north pole cops pulling people over in the roundabouts, it would be a safe place.
20,000 saved......
self fertilizing..... Priceless
Those roundabouts should be removed!!! They are the most STUPID, DANGEROUS pieces of road in the state!! Not only DO NOT spend a penny of Borough money on them...rip them up this summer. They should have never gone in to start with, and have proven they are nothing but a hazard to driving!!
Oh John but it could make it such a nice spin in the park.
Opinionated...."round"abouts don't have sides.
Oh Old so true they are round by design. Damn have to think of another obstacle to place in there. DOH!
Good idea, Opinionated. There are several landscaping companies. Three different ones could adopt a roundabout and post their advertisement sign. It could even lead to a who has the best circle contest. Wonder why the assembly didn't think of that? Their focused on money instead of looking outside the box (or circle in this case).
Maybe that could be passed onto Mr Whitaker.
there are only 2 round-abouts in NP. The other one is a half-about. Trees=stupid. Candy cane pole=good,4h club sign=good,ice sculpture in winter=good, red green and white flowers in a giant pot in summer=good. And Cheap. I'll bet some organization would do it for free or for donations. Maybe I should be mayor. Thank you. Thank you.
So let me get this straight - I can't afford to landscape around my own home because of rising energy costs and higher property taxes caused by the borough's inflated assessments of my property's value, and they want to use 20K of our money to landscape the city of North Pole's roundabouts, which by the way, were installed by the state. You've to be kidding me. If the city of North Pole wants it landscaped, let the citizens of North Pole pay for it.
Its a stupid idea anyway, do they realize that adding anything that blocks the view or distracts drivers isn't the way to go. Of course, that's our Assembly for you, never meet a project they didn't want to throw money at, no matter how harebrained it is.
Photodude, that's what I was about to say.
You've got to be kidding!
The sad thing is, I know they're not.
Wait a minute!
Until a few years ago, Airport Way's "beautification" was maintained by volunteers, begun by the late George Byrdsong!
Boy, these g-men (small g for local) really, really count on us to have short memories. They certainly are not above taking credit for undeserved stuff.
Grow the gov! That's what they're all about.
The borough did not even give anybody a chance to volunteer when George died.
North Pole has its own city structure and taxes. Whether roudabouts (I call them rotaries--the NP ones are ridiculously small if you're going to have them), are good or should have "landscaping" or not, why doesn't NP pay for it?
I like the roundabouts. I think they do a good job of forcing vehicles to slow down before entering the busier part of North Pole. There are a lot of walkers and bikers. Not to mention it was difficult to drive out of the grocery store parking lot due to excessive traffic. The last thing I would have liked to see was another light in North Pole. I think the roundabouts are a good way to regulate traffic. I also however COMPLETELY disagree with putting trees up. They do block traffic and it is not safe.
I dislike them enough that the last time I was in North Pole will be my last time with the exception of driving through. Although I live on the Fairbanks end of Badger Road, my address is North Pole, but I refuse to go there to conduct business. Maybe if more people do that, someday they will get the message.
Yukonjohn-
Why are new or different things such a problem for you? Quite possibly, once you got used to the roundabouts, you might see them as a nifty little design that actually do what they're supposed to. Give 'em a try, will ya? Europe loves them--- wait, maybe that's the problem--- they seem unAmerican.
Yukonjohn --
You and I agree on a lot of things, but I don't understand what your problem is with roundabouts.
They are a GOOD thing. They have been proven to increase traffic flow by removing unnecessary lights. The roundabout at UAF has been a great boon. Before it was installed traffic would be backed up half way up the ICY hill everyday around 5. Since it was installed, there has not been any problems and the traffic flows MUCH better.
Should we spend $20K to beautify the ones in NP? No, I don't think so. Especially in light of all the excellent "free" suggestions that people have posted here.
My problem with roundabouts is twofold. One, people do not understand using them, thus they are a traffic hazard in the US. I have also spent quite a bit of time in Europe, and they are used frequently with OK results there. Here, you see people not yielding right of way, not using turn signals, and driving with confusion, which IMHO is a recipe for accidents. That brings me to a second point, the non use of turn signals or confused driving has given NP police even more reason to have contact with the driving public. (as if they needed reason) I used to drive through NP twice daily on my way to and from Eielson for years. I will not go there anymore. My reasoning is again twofold. The roundabouts and the NP police. I DO NOT drink and drive, but I do not like police pulling people over for no reason then hassling them as I have witnessed over the years. Therefore I chose to take my business to Fairbanks.
Seems you have a problem with drivers, not the roundabouts.
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