Forest Hill Road in Macon, Letter to Editor, Nov 2011


	To: News and Editorial Editors Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:37 To: Letters@macontel.com , kennyb@macon.com, crichardson@macon.com, smarshall@macon.com Subject: Forest Hill Road update on boondoggle
	All, Plans to supersize Forest Hill Road continue sliding towards an enormous disaster. Georgia Power officials have told homeowners that the power poles will be moved away from the road (de)construction zone as early as January. To move the power lines, and make way for the bulldozers, large swaths of trees will be cut from both sides of the road. Near my property, where shade trees arch over the road and even touch, the plans show 150 foot wide clearings to expose the hills to be cut down and the valleys to be filled in to produce a flat, wide surface for pavement. The existing 22 feet of pavement will be more than double-widened to 44-77 feet including sidewalks. Sidewalks and some turn lanes are needed but they could be constructed in a much less destructive manner. Which brings us to design. The redesign of Forest Hill Road (FHR) is the issue. Almost everyone agrees that improvements are needed. Traffic flow at intersections, speed controls, and pedestrian safety, need to be addressed. Citizens have found a much less expensive way to accomplish these goals. The neighborhood and friends paid a highly qualified engineer, Rick Chellman, to develop an alternate plan for FHR during Mediation. Bibb County officials have never seriously looked at these plans. Bibb Commissioners promised in 2008 to bring Mr Chellman down to Macon to review his plans, but then they later reneged. Bibb Chairman Sam Hart and Mayor Reichert wrote a letter to GDOT in 2009 and asked them to restart the FHR project without any design modifications. On May 23rd, I pleaded with Mayor Reichert to ask GDOT for a more reasonable design. Reichert told me that "GDOT says they will not accept any redesign... They would rather stop the project altogether". This did not sound logical to me. So I wrote the GDOT Chief Engineer for clarification: Letter dated 5-24-11 -- To Georgia DOT Chief Engineer, Gerald Ross: Dear Mr Ross, Yesterday evening I was discussing the Forest Hill Road (FHR) project with Macon Mayor, Robert Reichert at City Hall. Mayor Reichert identified you as the pivotal person who told him that any design changes to this project would jeopardize the funding. Did he understand your position correctly? And, more specifically: If this project is modified to better serve the community, and the design still meets federal requirements, and the changes result in savings of both state and federal construction funds, Would you support the modified project, or would you work to deny funding for the project as redesigned? Thank-you, - Lindsay Holliday and the FHR Mediation Team Ross refuses to answer this letter. I have sent this letter numerous times to Ross. Copies were sent to all local and state officials who hold any sway over this project. I have even spoken to Ross on the phone about this, but I did not record it. I did record Mr Ross in a meeting in Atlanta (2-28-11) when he instructed me and FHR group to "turn off all recorders" (and place them outside the room). Official actions of Ross, Reichert, Hart and others indicate that they may be acting in bad faith. They refuse to consider a better plan. This situation is unacceptable on so many levels -- Whether the reader is a tree hugger, a Tea Party conservative, a city planner, or anyone who pays the local, state, federal, gas or SPLOST taxes that are being used to fuel this fiasco. Public opinion is officially documented as strongly opposing this project design from its very beginning. At the 1st public meeting in 2001, the written comments were 85% against the GDOT designs. Over 900 signatures were collected in October 2006 of citizens who want a new design [1], [2 ],[3 ]. At the latest public comment period in June 2011, of the over 165 comments, 97% oppose the GDOT designs. The next meeting of road building officials in Bibb County is scheduled for November 29 at 9am at the Bibb County Engineering Annex, 760 Third St. Public citizens may only speak at the very beginning of this meeting. The roads officials at this meeting have the power to immediately repave FHR and add turn lanes at the most congested intersections. Then a better design can be implemented in phases. This is what most citizens want. This is what the citizens need to demand. This letter is webposted with full documentation at: www.macon-bibb.com/FHR - Lindsay Holliday and the FHR Mediation Team

	Letter above was modified slightly, printed on two sides of one sheet of paper, and distributed to Macon City Council at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 at 6pm. Two citizens addressed Council - Lindsay Holliday and Susan H Martin. There were a total of 9 Citizens attending who were there to support the message.