City puts a stop to shortcut
Some people in Aboite Township will complain they didn’t get much in exchange when they were annexed to the city.
There aren’t any more snowplows than there were before.
The same people pick up the trash who always did, except now it costs more and you get only one garbage can.
One thing has increased since the area entered the city. I’ve gotten calls from people complaining they’re getting more traffic tickets.
We’re not saying that the people of Aboite haven’t gotten anything tangible since they joined the city. There are examples of such additions to neighborhoods.
For example, one particular stop sign comes to mind.
It’s on Stone Creek Run at what is called the intersection at White Face Lane.
White Face Lane is an unusual street. It is about 100 feet long and ends in a pile of dirt near a fence that borders a big, empty field that runs along Interstate 69.
There are no houses on White Face Lane, just a couple of driveways that belong to two homes built on Stone Creek Run next to White Face.
In a sense, White Face Lane has to be there. If it weren’t, there would be no way for the occupants of the two houses to get their cars out of their driveways.
For about three decades people seem to have gotten along well with the arrangement.
Then, late last summer, city crews came out and installed stop signs, one on White Face and two more on Stone Creek Run. The signs were the result of a petition circulated by the Heather Ridge Neighborhood Association, residents tell us.
Some people have complained the signs are stop signs in the middle of nowhere, stopping traffic at a non-intersection for no apparent reason.
Of course that’s not entirely true. Stone Creek Run serves as one of the streets people use to get between Aboite Center and Covington roads. Depending on where you’re going, it can be 2 miles or more shorter than heading out for Jefferson Boulevard or Homestead Road to get to Covington.
This tendency to use Stone Creek Run as a shortcut has turned the street into a thoroughfare of sorts, and some cars zip down the street pretty fast, a lot faster than the 30-mph speed limit on the residential road, we’re told.
Putting a stop sign at White Face is one way to slow traffic down.
One caller, though, protested that the signs are in the middle of nowhere. He’s complained to city officials about the signs but really didn’t get much satisfaction, he said.
He also complained that the police have been giving residents tickets for making rolling stops at the stop signs, which he considered a little silly since there’s almost never any cross traffic to worry about.
Indeed, the stop signs have generated some tickets. One resident, who lives at the corner of Stone Creek and White Face, said they had parked in the street on White Face one day, which they rarely do, and received a ticket for parking too close to a stop sign, sort of silly when you consider the only traffic coming off White Face is that person and the neighbor.
It’s also sort of silly when you consider the resident said it’s the same spot where police cars park to catch people making rolling stops at the stop sign.
If the city wants to make some money, that’s the place to do it. Traffic is relatively heavy on Stone Creek Run, and in the few minutes we watched, not a single car came to a complete stop.
But the stops signs sure slowed them down, which is why the signs are there to begin with.
Karen Gerni always knew her father, Claude Bobilya, served in World War II. He’d make references to it from time to time, and he’d mention pathfinders, which Gerni didn’t understand, but he didn’t talk about it a lot.