Monday, September 29. 2008
Speed Humps/Bumps
Speed Humps
Last month your Board of Directors voted 4 to 1 to install more speed humps. They were installed last week.
We had several goals to meet with the addition of more speed humps:
- Most clearly we are trying to reduce speeding. Several residents have loudly complained that speeding on our long downhill streets is very unsafe.
- We are trying to get people to stop at the stop signs on Sorrento lane.
- We are trying to reduce vehicle bumps to our exit gates in order to extend the life of the gates, motors, and hinges.
- We are trying to avoid collisions between cars at the exits and cars making U-turns at the Security kiosks.
- We are trying to make it even harder for unauthorized vehicles to follow residents in through the Torino gate.
Based on last year’s survey the vote was nearly 50/50 for and against speed bumps. Many of those opposed view them as bad for their cars, and their alignment. Or they think they are unsightly, or they think they won’t do what they are intended to do. Some think they are too noisy and a waste of money.
Those residents pressing for speed bumps view them as the only sure way to get people to slow down to 25 miles per hour consistently and drive safely.
We all tend to blame outsiders and contractors for much of our speeding problem. Of course, not everyone that goes too fast in our neighborhood is a contractor. Some residents like to go fast. They purchased exceptional cars, and they have great reflexes. Others going too fast are just residents on their way to the store or work, and loose track of how fast they are going down the hill. This is no different from drivers in other parts of the city.
Within each group there are subgroups. Some of the pro-speed bump residents would like many more, and want them on their street. They would like them higher and bumpier. They are concerned that the HOA does not take further action children will die.
There is a subgroup on the other side that thinks that speed humps should not even be considered. They think they don’t really work anyway, and that they reduce their property value. No matter what, they don’t want speed bumps on their street or especially in front of their house. Many have high performance, low profile cars and don’t want to see their undercarriage or alignment damaged.
The Board has tried to get LAPD patrols into our community, but the police have higher traffic volumes and more accidents on streets like Tampa, Rinaldi, or Mason. Our security patrol has no legal standing to pull residents over. We cannot afford a 7x24 traffic patrol anyway.
Personally, I want to hear from as many of you as possible before we think about expanding the program. Do you think these speed bumps will slow people down? Should they be higher? Should they be on more residential streets? Should we forget going any further? Should we put one in front of your house?
PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL of other resident’s point of view, but let us know what you think. If you can avoid anonymously posting and confrontational language your point of view will be more highly considered.
Thanks for participating!
Pat Pope
Remember, there is a vast majority of us who have jobs and children, and simply do not have the time to defend the counter position or attend the board meetings. Speed humps without the vote of all the individuals using the street is wrong.
There should be mailed ballots next time a matter like this presents itself."
To everyone who is forced to navigate the series of stop signs and bumps/humps on Sorrento Lane, this should be a daily remember of who is responsible for putting them there. Come the next election, have your say!"
This is clearly a contentious issue and the vocal minority who are able to attend HOA meetings shouldn't be the only voices that are heard. There are those of us who have to work during such meetings and given the economic situation generally, it is not surprising if the number of people having to work longer hours (and therefore miss meetings) increases.
Finally, I don't recall the survey mentioning speed humps in front of the gates. I thought that with the cameras we were able to catch the people who break the gates and have them pay for the gates to be fixed. Is this not the case?"
I have very expensive cars. They can bottom out and scrape the frame at these speed bumps. I never exceed 40 MPH even downhill and these bumps jar me and hurt my alignment. If other residents and the laborers that come into our community would just keep there speed under the 40 MPH limit we wouldn’t need to talk about this. SO EVERYBODY JUST SLOW DOWN. S&S SLOW DOWN YOUR WORKERS.
Parents need to teach their kids to watch for cars; that is the best way to avoid accidents. Residents should be more careful when backing out of their driveway. You might even consider backing your car in, so you can see better when you leave your house. The cars going down the hill has the right of way anyway.
I am sick and tired of a few whiners influencing the board on a so called safety issue. I don’t think there has been an accident here, at least not one where somebody got hurt. We are in bad economic times. There are people in the valley that would like to steal fro us. Before the board sets the budget next year, they should think about a full time armed patrol instead of wasting money on more speed bumps, and stop signs."
speed bumps are okay. i think there might be a need to have them in the inner streets.
case in point: lugano way goes downhill from the east end. there are cars coming from close to the east cul-de-sac that speed through lugano way -- coming and going! what's up with that? in case you haven't noticed, there are kids amont the homes in that particular area.
please help..."
Should you be shocked that the Board operates without your approval or knowledge of such matters?
As a Board member that is constantly in the minority on issues of common sense (competitive bids, informing homeowners of major issues that they should be aware of prior to Board action), I can empathize with the silent majority; however, unless you show up to meetings and/or get involved you will continue to see changes that affect you without your knowledge or consent.
In the issue of the speed humps, I advised the Board to not rush through a decision that should first be vetted to the public. I also wrote about this as a process issue two years ago in the blog regarding Vercelli Way. Some of us have lived her for 4 years or greater. Waiting an extra 45 days to install speed humps would not have costed us anything.
I supported the speed humps on Sorrento Lane as all of us have witnessed cars running straight through the stop sign without even a thought of slowing down. I also own a low profile sports car that requires extra care in getting over speed bumps. I have no desire to turn our streets into a parking lot that resembles Wal-Mart or Target, but in some cases the prudent decision is safety over aesthetics.
I opposed the speed humps at the gates as they are clearly a waste of our limited money. If you had attended the meeting where this item was sprung on the public you would have witnessed a clear opposition by the community, save support by the consultant that provided the "fix" and the Board that directed the bid. No competitive bids were collected for this install work.
When we spend approximately $8000 for speed humps that have no definable effect on mitigating what other prior expenditures were designed to do--a Camera system for $13K that somehow can't record who is crashing into the gates or tailgating into the complex or an additional $5K to $6K for an arm that was suppose to stop the initial problem in the first place, you have to ask yourself--"What are we thinking / What are we doing with our limited funds?"
We are currently in the process of reviewing our budget. Stay tuned!
Given the lost funding to our association from distressed or foreclosed properties we are running a significant loss funding deficit (approaching $100K).
I have advised the Board that we need an across the Board cut in expenditures (all vendors) of approximately 7 to 8% to avoid a dues increase. I am confident that for the areas that I oversee I am able to get the necessary cost concessions while improving the performance of the vendors involved. The mantra here is: Cut costs before taxing homeowners.
Our initial target is a 5% reduction across all services. Getting there will be a different story, but I am encouraged to see a couple other Board members now starting to move in the direction of fiscal responsibility (some of them are still slow to adopting the concept of competitive bids, at least one other is now pushing cost as an issue--I applaud that change, that individual).
Your involvement in this process is needed to prevent another dues increase. Please show-up and lend your support to ensuring we are fiscally-minded given these tough financial times.
...developing the process that affords all of us a voice prior to major decisions."
We should all take more responsibility for our actions. Then we wouldn’t need these ski jump bumps that wreck the undercarriage of your car. If you have a sports car, you can barely go 30 miles an hour without bottoming out.
The bumps at the Rinaldi gate are way too high. My cousin comes over all the time. He used to just follow behind another car to get in. Then they put in the stupid arms. He could still get in but it was harder. Now I have to go over to the gate with my clicker to let him in, or he has to wait for the Sorrento guard to let him in, what a hassle. My cousin is just a visitor, he is not a robber.
All those extra stupid stop signs do is slow people up a little, most of us don’t really stop at them anyways. So why have them?
I have lived here since almost day one. There haven’t been any accidents in Sorrento! They have had plenty at Rinaldi and Mason, and they have a traffic light there! So if you aren’t a good driver, or don’t have a car with good brakes, slow down, we can’t afford any more bumps. Tell your kids to stay out of the street. Then they won’t have to worry about speeding cars. We should be cutting the dues not raising them just to irritate drivers even more.
Near as I can tell Mr. Minton is the only member of the board of directors that does any work, and he is the guy that wants to cut our dues! The rest of the board just are power hungry. I had some satellite dishes in front and they made me move them. It’s not their house, its my house. They should not have a say about dishes or patio cover colors, or stupid parking laws. This is the USA. We don’t need any more freeloaders getting IN and Out Burgers and free cokes. There is an In and Out right down the street. All of these parties cost too much, and close the pools for too long.
The landscaping looks way better now than it did before. That will help me sell my house. The new security company doesn’t stop any crime; the gates don’t stop any crime. The gates break too much. They cost too much. The guards cost too much. The management company costs too much and they never call you back. The pools are never clean, and they even turned down the water heaters at the shower. I like long hot showers.
Good job Mr. Minton, keep those other bozos in line. We should fire them all anyway. All they do is spend spend spend on stupid stuff."