2009-1106 Special City Commission Meeting

Home Browse Search

- Special City Commission Meeling November 6, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida other things that we have to look at other than just the school children. He said he read the Manager's memorandum and he thought the memo was very clear and to the point that we have these problems there and just to solve the problem with the school children is not the only problem that we have there. Vice Mayor Thaler said he thinks everybody has similar concerns and that is the public. He said in his mind we are here and the concept at this point is really the time that we have while the school is open. Going back to what Commissioner Scholl said, if and when the light gets up and we put the stanchions up and they are up permanently and Mr. Katz has agreed to that in writing, but what we are referring to right now is the timing for the school and not the total public at this point and what this meeting is about. He agrees with Commissioner Goodman with the fact that we should not get involved with closing one of the walkways on Collins Avenue, first of all we don't have the authority to do that, and second he doesn't really believe it would help because he thinks the problem is a traffic problem, not a walking problem. What he would like to propose at this point is that we put up a "No Left Turn" sign effective Monday through Friday on school days only. He also believes that 1) until the sign goes up continue to have the Police Officer there, and 2) he believes that for the first few weeks we should still have a Police Officer there to stop and either give warnings or citations to people who turn into that area. He asked assuming it passes how long will the signs take to get up, and Assistant City Manager Vera said he could rush it and it would be one week and a half to two weeks, and Vice Mayor Thaler said let's put two weeks here, and then he would like two more weeks of a Police Officer there to enforce the sign certainly in the morning and the afternoon. We will follow through as the Mayor has said on the traffic light, and when the light goes up and the stanchions go back. Mayor Edelcup said what he has been hearing basically is that we have two solutions that are temporary in nature that maybe if we combine the best features of both we can have a consensus and what he is hearing is if we can put the "No Left Turn on School Days" signs plus having a Policeman during a transition period, but add some school guards until such time as needed, maybe on a permanent basis. Commissioner Scholl said his question for Vice Mayor Thaler is, is the Policeman there to enforce the no left turn, and Vice Mayor Thaler said yes, and Commissioner Scholl said then that Mr. Katz wouldn't pay for that, that is traffic enforcement. Mayor Edelcup said to compromise, let's have the crossing guards there, let's get the sign up, let's instruct the Police to enforce the signage at the City's cost, and Mr. Katz will pay for the crossing guard for the period oftime its felt necessary that it is working, and we can always come back and say we need one crossing guard or two crossing guards, and the crossing guards at some point may not even be his responsibility because we have hired crossing guards to handle the whole City. Commissioner Scholl said he believes that having a crossing guard at a private ingress and egress is extraordinary, whether it is one or two, that is on the Chief. Vice Mayor Thaler said he believes the Police Officer should be there until the signs are put up, and to continue to be at Mr. Katz cost until the signs are put up, and the Commission agreed. Mayor Edelcup summarized that the consensus of this Commission appears to be that we put the "No Left Turn on School Days" sign up, except for Wednesdays, get that up within a two-week period; during that two-week period Mr. Katz will still pay for the Policeman, after 3