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Home My WebLink AboutSignatures & Letter- opposition to TCAT route changes Sept 24, 2007.PDF i September 24, 2007 Walter R. Lynn, Mayor, Village of Cayuga Heights Ann Antil,Trustee,Village of Cayuga eights James Bisogni,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Heights Frank Collyer,Trustee,Village of Cayuga Heights Phyllis Kaplan,Trustee,Village of Cayuga Heights Elizabeth Mount,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Heights Roy Staley,Trustee,Village of Cayuga Heights Dear Walter and Cayuga Heights Trust�es, Please find enclosed a letter expressing trong opposition to a possible change to the TCAT route 30 bus signed by 158 Village of Cayuga Heigh s residents and Cayuga Heights Elementary School community members. We appreciate your prompt attention and look forward to hearing from you. i Sincerely, Abigail C. Cohn,/ Michele Kiefer 309 The Parkway 320 The Parkway Ithaca, NY 14850 Ithaca,NY 14850 acc4@cornell.edu mvb.kiefer@verizon.net cc. Brent A. Cross, Superintendent of Publi Works/Village Engineer, Village of Cayuga Heights Thomas Boyce, Police Chief,Village of Cayuga Heights Nancy Oltz, Director of Service Develo meet,TCAT Claudette James, Principal, Cayuga Hei hts Elementary School Dooley Kiefer,Tompkins County Repr sentative, District 10 September 24,2007 Walter R. Lynn, Mayor, Village of Cayuga Hei Its Ann Antil,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Heights James Bisogni,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Hei hts Frank Collyer,Trustee,Village of Cayuga Heights Phyllis Kaplan,Trustee,Village of Cayuga Heights Elizabeth Mount,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Heights Roy Staley,Trustee, Village of Cayuga Heights Dear Walter and Cayuga Heights Trustees, We are writing to you to express our strong opposition to a possible change to the TCAT route 30 bus that would involve it running on either Northway Road or on The Parkway between Upland Rd. and Klinewoods Road. Such a rerouting would pos very serious and direct safety concerns for children and families going to and from Cayuga Heights Ele entary School. To pursue the safety issue a bit further, there is heavy pedestrian traffic though that intersection in the morning between 7:30-8:15 and again in the afternoon between 1:45-2:30, continuing till 5:45. There are inevitably serious risks associated with the com ination of bus traffic and pedestrian traffic (witness the tragic death of Michelle Evans, a pedestrian killed by a TCAT bus in 2000, The Ithaca Journal, March 18,2000). In the current circumstances, none of the children and almost none of the parents traveling to or from CHES use the TCAT bus, so there is nd advantage gained by making the bus one block closer to the school. Thus the proposed rerouting would increase risk with no obvious benefit. It appears that there has been confusion over vv�o initiated the discussion of a possible route change,The Village of Cayuga Heights,the Village Engineer,Brent Cross, or Nancy Oltz of TCAT. While the Village Engineer told members of the community that changes were up to TCAT,Nancy Oltz said that she believed the requested change to have comc from the Village of Cayuga Heights. Clearly there has been some sort of misunderstanding and there is no reason to pursue a highly problematic change that has been set in motion due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication. A very simple solution presents itself. We ask the Mayor and Trustees to communicate directly and immediately to Ms. Nancy Oltz, clarifying that no such request was intended to be made by the Village and affirming that the status quo, with the#30 running on Triphammer Rd., Upland Rd. and then The Parkway south of Upland, be continued, Thank you for your attention to this urgent matl er, Sincerely, Concerned community members, 158 signature attached cc. Brent A. Cross, Superintendent of Public Works/Village Engineer, Village of Cayuga Heights Thomas Boyce, Police Chief, Village of Cayuga Heights Nancy Oltz, Director of Service Development,TCAT Claudette James, Principal, Cayuga Heights Elementary School Dooley Kiefer,Tompkins County Representati e, District 10 i i illy of Cayuga uga Heights, September 24, 2007 ' Letter to Mayor and Trustees oI V ib o y b signature name address 3 CA I N C 'PA a�C WaAY -jog -rL, .9 Ij 7z, ARPC� 72-6 b'D n. Sit } IAA-! % � 4 c 'qua 01 "All Letter to Mayor and Trustees of Village ofliCayuga Hei�hts, September 24, 2007 signature name address a't32@cornell.edu Alex Travis 1044 Ca u a Heights Rd. patlongot-ia@tweny.t-r.com Patricia Longoria 109 W. Upland Rd. m 336@cornell.edu Mason Peck 109 W. Upland Rd. mmccarty@tweny.rr.com Matthew McCarty 1420 Ellis Hollow Rd anne.sine@gmail.com om Anne Sine 3 Strawberry Lane ohnstom@advion.com Mary Johnston 5 Amber Lane Itbur er@ verizon.net Liza Burger 328 Hook Place mike.andrews@intlfoodnetwork Michael R. Andrews lnt'l Food Network 35 Thornwood Dr. .com jegll@cornell.edu J. Ellen Gainor 713 Hanshaw Road Faulkner@cortland.edu David A. Faulkner 713 Hanshaw Road jes257@cornell.edu Julie Simmons-Lyoch 116 Kelvin Place wp@holt.com William Patchen 110 Northway Road J•aimewolffe@gmail.com Jaime Wolffe 110 Overlook Road jaimewolffe@gmail.com Steve Gordon 11.0 Overlook Road rh24@cornell.edu Rehana Huq 200 Comstock Road sck4@cornell.edu Sarosh Kuruvilla 200 Comstock Road greglqg@gmail.com Greg Garvan 313 The Parkwa lindarom@tweny.rr.com Linda Romano I 103 Highgate Road dmstover@twcny.rr.com Denise Stover 205 Comstock Road REGARDING: TCAT Bus Route 30 Proposed Change from E. Upland Road to Northway Road By the Upper Entrance to C yuga Heights Elementary School Dear Community Members, Thanks for your support in expressing concern about the proposed change of TCAT's Bus Route 30 to The Mayor of Cayuga Heights and the Village Board of Trustees. Our letter requesting that the Village communicate to TCAT that no change should be made to the current route was signed by 158 Cayuga Heights residents and Cayuga Heights Elementary School community members. To date, the only response we have recei ed to this request is the following email informing us of a Village meeting to which Nancy Oltz TCAT Director of Service Development, and Joe Turcotte, TCAT General Manager, have been invited. Please join us at the Cayuga Heights Village Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, Oct. 15 at Village Hall at 8315 Hanshaw Road to voice your concerns. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. We understand that the first part of the meeting is reserved for publlic comment and input. For more information: Michele Kiefer Abigail Cohn 257-9115 272-7170 mvb.kiefer@verizon.net acc4 cornell.edu Sent from Brent Cross, Village Engineer Friday, Oct. 5, 2007 2:34 p.m. Dear Ms. Cohn and Ms. Kiefer: This message is to acknowledge the petite n that you have submitted, requesting the Village to oppose TCAT's proposed change of route 0 from E. Upland road to Northway Road. In response to your request, we have invited Nancy Oltz and TCAT Director Joe Turcotte to attend the next Trustee meeting on 10/15/07. In the meantime, TCAT has agreed to delay any action on this issue until it can be discussed between the Village and TCAT at the meeting. If you plan to attend the meeting, please be aware that there is a public hearing on proposed modifications to the fence ordinance that will be first on the agenda at 7pm. We are also doing research into the TCAT's legislated authority to make/change bus routes in the Village. More information about this authority will be presented to the Trustees at this meeting. It is important to us to know the legal relationship (or lack of) between the Village and TCAT for all past/future bus issues on all streets, not just Northway Road. Part of the opposition that you cite in your letter is based on issues relative to the safety of pedestrians (primarily children) at the school driveway. We are also concerned about this situation, regardless of the TCAT bus situation. Therefore, we have a meeting schedule with the school district to take a look at possible modifications and improvements of the traffic impacts at that location. If you have any questions before the meeting, you can call me at 257-5536. Sincerely, Brent Cross Village Engineer II