Who gets stop signs?

by reenee, Santa Maria

About 18 months ago I was grousing about West Fesler Street. This is the speedway that I have to back up into from my driveway. Lately, due to more than a few close calls from drivers on this speedway, I've taken to backing up into my driveway, so that I can be eye to eye with the driver that slams into me. This is a residential street with four lanes. This wide street, begins at the Broadway intersection that has a stop light. Traveling west it turns into North Railroad Street with no stop signs for eleven blocks. These aren't the normally short subdivision type blocks.

See the picture I've included? This is what I see every day on this street.

Okay, now factor in an idiotic three way intersection where Fesler turns into Railroad in a sharp right turn. Drivers from Depot Street, the third street in this intersection, try to squeeze in as cars go by. If you want to turn left, you have to stop and wait for cars coming off of Railroad turning left onto Fesler at top speed, or turning right onto Depot. If you're lucky, the cars waiting at the Depot Street stop sign will not get impatient and cut in front of you before you can make your turn. If however you want to continue west on Fesler, you have to turn right and then immediately turn left, if the coast is clear.

Why am I mentioning this again? Well, I'm going tell you.

Fesler Street heading east from Broadway is as wide as on the west side, but after only three blocks there's a stop sign. This is the Miller Street intersection. Once you cross Miller, Fesler gets very narrow. Drivers generally do not speed through this area, speeding would create too many side swipes since cars are usually parked along the curbs. Even dumb drivers know this. So imagine my surprise to see yet another stop sign two blocks past Miller Street at the intersection of Elizabeth and Fesler. It's still so new it's adorned with blinking lights. This is only two blocks before the next stop sign at the intersection of Fesler and College. That's three stop signs within a seven block stretch of a very narrow street.

Meanwhile, West Fesler, with four lanes has no stop signs. What's up with that? According to a few people I've mentioned this to, East Fesler got the new stop sign because it's the "gringo" side of town. Since there are quite a few "gringos" on this side of town, I'm going to take the less hysterical view and guess it's because we haven't hollered loudly enough. Or perhaps we've not paid for one. Or perhaps it's because there aren't as many churches over here. Or perhaps it's related to property values. I don't know. Whatever the reason is, we need one over on West Fesler as much if not more than on East Fesler.

There have been too many accidents on this street. Last year a speeding car lost control making a turn and took out a neighbor's fence. Quite a few collisions have occured, and just yesterday, a speeding car almost smooshed two children crossing the street. The driver left skid marks for several yards.

Did I mention that there is a school two blocks away? This means that kids are all over this intersection crossing Fesler twice a day. One of those times is early in the morning when people are hurrying to work.

That's it, I'll have to go fight City Hall. Hopefully I won't be detained and I'll be back soon with more original gripes.