Between The Pines

by Susan Goldbeck

Susan Goldbeck Editor / Publisher

  You may  remember that  commercial showing a little boy rejecting everything on his plate, “Mikey doesn’t like anything.”  was the tag line. I don’t want to be that little boy. I do think we need to  slow down and make sure the roundabout, on Sunset and Congress, now estimated to cost seven million dollars, is what we  really need.

That is especially true because we only have guaranteed funding right now for five- million dollars of the estimated costs. And seriously, whoever heard of a public project which came in on time and on budget?

    Our Public Works Director, Daniel Gho,  tells me that if we run short of money  Pacific Grove would have to cover any shortfall. And if we are guaranteed five million dollars and the project today is estimated at seven million, and with costs of construction rising every day, there will be a substantial shortfall.  But,Gho assured me, there were state and federal  grants he was confident the City could get in order  to cover it. Hmm...

   So, I ask you, do we need this roundabout? If pedestrian safety problems  at this five -legged intersection, which is what is  they say is what is being addressed here, why is it that the pedestrian crossing under this plan will be  moved out of the intersection ?  

The crosswalk on Sunset and Congress is to be moved to Sunset and 19^th street, across from the high school, about a block up the hill from the roundabout. And, from what I can tell, the pedestrian issues are not particularly acute. There have been thirteen accidents at the roundabout intersection  over the years and none  of them have  involved pedestrians. The traffic engineer who conducted the study indicated that the accidents at the intersection consisted of rear-end collisions, side-swipes, and broadsides; all are typical at any intersection regulated by stop signs.   

     So, it sounds like we are putting our hand into the sticky bee hive of years of disruptive construction, not to mention cost overruns, to solve a problem that appears not to exist or can be solved in a less intrusive way. If pedestrian safety is the issue, the sidewalk improvements and the installation of crosswalks up the street on Sunset seems like the right approach.

Gho told me that Highway 68 improvements short of the roundabout installation can be funded by some of this state money. Moving the crosswalk walks out of the five-legged intersection seems to be the solution not reconfiguring the whole intersection to install a roundabout. This City has a fifty five million dollar- plus unfunded liability to our employee retirement fund (PERS) .that grows every year. We sure can't afford to take on more debt.

Receiving a $5 million grant from California doesn't obligate us to fund an unnecessary project. Remember this project involves the City taking private property and great deal of disruption in one of the busiest intersection in the City.  I'm not saying don’t do it, But let's give this another look and find out if this is really where we want to go. Hmm…that pesky word boondoggle comes to mind.

       Can the State money be used for other road projects in the City? No, not unless they involve the Sunset highway 68 state roadway. Can we change our mind on this now” Gho says we can.  I say, let’s take another look at this before spending any more time and effort on it.

 Gho is due to meet with the City's TAMC partners to update the funding agreement to proceed to Phase 2 of the project . He will then bring it back to the Council for consideration. Before doing that, why not put the project on the agenda to take another look at this thing.

We have a new City Manager who i seems to be doing a good job and who appears to be fiscally responsible . I would like to have him gives us his take on this plan. As Ricky Ricardo liked to say, he’s got “some splainin” “to do before this goes any further.