Macon-Bibb road program officials bobbed and weaved through
a contentious meeting Thursday 10-8-98, trading barbs over free speech and
the accuracy of last month's minutes while also taking care of routine business.
After the meeting, members of the neighborhoods coalition CAUTION
Macon gave the executive committee of the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement
Program seven recommendations for improving relations between community activists
and road builders.
| REQUESTS |
|
Highlights of CAUTION Macon requests:
1. Agendas for the executive and technical committees be furnished
to CAUTION Macon and the media, preferably a week in advance.
2. Hold the road improvement committee meetings at a more convenient
time for citizens.
3. Enhance completed projects with additional grading, grass and trees
and plan for adequate right-of-way treatment and landscaping in the future.
4. Clarify the role of Walter Kulash, the neighborhood-friendly road
designer, to ensure that he can review all projects and suggest changes.
Let the public know what he thinks.
5. Make available to the public complete project descriptions that
include design, purpose, need, neighborhood impact of projects and feasible
alternatives.
6. Set up and provide ample notice of public hearings on all major
improvements. Allow open, unrestricted debate.
7. Formulate special road, sidewalk and right-of-way standards to
address requirements of historic areas, aesthetically significant vistas
and neighborhoods.
8. Conduct a series of bona fide public hearings on the entire street
system. |
The suggestions ranged from more convenient meeting times for
working people to a firmer commitment to involve neighborhood friendly road
designer Walter Kulash in all projects in the $300 million program.
The executive committee meeting opened with ex-officio committee
member Frank Pinkston challenging the minutes of last month's meeting, saying
the report did not accurately reflect the committee's agreement on traffic
engineer Walter Kulash's role in the road program.
The session ended with Macon City Councilwoman Thelma Dillard
challenging committee chairman Larry Justice over the presence of an armed
deputy sheriff at the committee meetings.
"There's no need for this," said Dillard, a member of CAUTION
Macon, which opposes some road-widening projects. "These are peaceful people
who've not caused any problems. You're just trying to stymie free speech
and intimidate them."
"They've been at every meeting," Justice said, responding to
Dillard's claim that deputies started attending meetings after roads opponents
started attending. "That's a bunch of bull."
Justice, who also chairs the Bibb County Commission, acknowledged
after the meeting that he was unsure when deputies had started attending
the meetings.
The committee took action on
several other items. They included:
• Reaffirming its earlier approval to construct three lanes on Forest
Hill Road from Northside Drive to Wimbish Road. The $3.5 million project
would also provide curbs and sidewalks on the eastern side of the road.
• Approving $335,037 for design work on the proposed intersection of
Interstate 16 and Weaver Road.
• Sending back to the road program's technical advisory committee for
review a proposal to put sidewalks on both sides of Pierce Avenue from Old
Holton Road to Sheffield Drive. That proposal would also include a sidewalk
on the west side of Pierce from Sheffield to Riverside Drive.
The technical advisory committee reviews project engineers'
proposals. The committee either approves or disapproves the offerings, before
sending them to the executive committee for its consideration.
Also sent back to the technical advisory committee for review
was whether to widen Hartley Bridge Road to three lanes from Interstate 75
to Houston Road.
On Pinkston's suggestion, the committee agreed to ask the technical
advisory committee to re-examine making Forsyth Street one way into the city
from Interstate 75 to Poplar Street and making Washington Street and Hardeman
Avenue one way out of the city from Poplar to I-75.
Pinkston said last month's minutes should have read that traffic
engineer Walter Kulash of Orlando, Fla., would be used only to review the
proposed Wesleyan Drive and Ingleside Avenue projects. Engineers with Moreland
Altobelli Associates, the road program's managers, would have to get prior
approval from the executive committee before he could be used on other projects.
Although Macon Mayor Jim Marshall disagreed with Pinkston's
interpretation of the minutes, the mayor and other committee members agreed
that the executive committee should approve Kulash's involvement in other
projects.
A few weeks ago, the committee agreed to pay Kulash $5,000
to review and make recommendations on the Wesleyan Drive and Ingleside Avenue
projects. Tom Moreland, chief engineer for Moreland Altobelli, added another
$1,000 to the fee.
On Thursday, Moreland got the committee to approve Kulash's
involvement in the Tucker Road project, proposed improvements at the intersection
of Wesleyan and Rivoli drives, and the proposed widening of College Street
at its intersections with Washington and Georgia avenues. This work will
be at no additional cost, Moreland said.
