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Macon-Bibb.com
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emailed with hyperlinks - before editing for general publication |
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Dear Editors: |
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Please help us set the record straight: The citizens were right in the beginning, and they are still right. Evidence continues to build that supports the citizen's collective vision for Forest Hill Road. Reading the citizen's comments from 2001 and 2006 (b) (c) and 2011, the citizens seem prescient: - Walkability and - Safety - "Safe Routes to Schools" is a FHWA initiative [kids obesity], adopted by MATS that would favor the Citizens designs for FHR. - Livability - AARP recently awarded Macon a designation "Liveable Community" that assumes road designs similar to the Citizens designs for FHR. - Traffic Calming - a key part of the Citizens Design for FHR, is fundamental to the above criteria. - Tree Canopy - Macon-Bibb Tree Commission and proposed ordinances all favor the Citizens plans for FHR. - Roundabouts - GDOT had never constructed a roundabout in 2001, and ridiculed the citizens who promoted them. Now with dozens of Rs in planning, the GDOT criteria for roundabouts fits all the critical intersections along FHR. Macon-Bibb needs the Telegraph to set the record straight re GDOT vs Citizen plans: - Have the Citizens offered a true compromise? Yes. 2008. - Has GDOT done any compromise? No, Never. None. - Are the Citizens offering modern designs that will save taxpayers money? Yes. Energy efficient and self -policing. - Are the Citizens against widening the roadway? No. Citizen plan is twice as wide as the road is now. Maconites opposed GDOTs plans in 2001, and formally offered a compromise in 2008. This compromise offered in mediation was rejected by GDOT. The FHR neighbors spent about $10,000.00 and many hundreds of man-hours to bring an internationally acclaimed urban-road-design expert, R Chellman, to the 2008 Mediation where we developed and promoted a road plan that is much larger than the current FHR, and it is almost as large as the GDOT design. (Link) The GDOT plan was bad in 2001, and it looks even worse in 2012, given new information available to the public. Please help us to set the record straight. Thank-you, - FHR Mediation Team Alice Boyd, Lindsay D Holliday, Carol Lystlund, Susan Hanberry Martin, Dan Fische |
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go back to Forest Hill Road