Traffic light for Main and Commodore discussed

Most of last night's Village Council meeting was dedicated to the proposed traffic light issue at Commodore Plaza and Main Highway and while a few of the neighbors from the Cloisters development, right at that intersection, who brought up the issue with the county, were quite charming and friendly, I, along with most at the meeting feel that it is a self serving traffic light that is being considered so that the 40 people who live in The Cloisters have easy access out of their main driveway during rush hour times.

Awhile back, neighbors at The Cloisters development called the county to ask for a traffic study to see whether a traffic light would be a good idea at the entrance in and out of their development and it appears as if the county has jumped over backwards to try and accommodate these few people. My own neighbors have asked for this for years in the North Grove, along the same traffic route, but we have been ignored over the years by the county, we find it quite interesting that the county jumped at the request of The Cloisters neighbors, who chose to live at this busy intersection in Coconut Grove.

Jeffrey Cohen, Assistant Chief of the County's Public Works Department, spoke at last night's Village Council meeting. He made it clear that talks have gone on -- prompted by calls from The Cloisters neighbors, but nothing has been done as of yet. One reason is that they would like to see what the BID's proposal is for their street scape plan, the one being brought before the public on Monday night. If the plan slows down or redirects traffic, there may not be a need for a light.

The whole subject of traffic and safety and what's best for all (according to The Cloisters neighbors) is sort of nonsense due to the fact that there is always going to be traffic, and in high traffic rush hour times the cars are at a standstill anyway, so there really is no racing down the street by cars, as they claim, and no problem crossing the street since nothing is moving at rush hour times. And that is the time that the residents at The Cloisters are in need of a traffic light -- to allow them access onto Main Highway.

A couple of The Cloisters neighbors contradicted themselves last night after the meeting, when they told me that they do not have a problem crossing Main Highway by foot, they said cars do stop for them when they want to cross. So the whole issue boils down to cars -- their cars, getting out in high traffic times. And another ironic thing is that at the beginning of the meeting. Mr. Cohen, from the county, started his talk by saying that before he came to the meeting, he checked out the intersection and it took him a "whole three minutes" to make a left turn. Say what? I thought this was about safety and speeding and not about waiting to make turns onto Main Highway. Is this about speeding traffic, as the neighbors claim or about counting how long it takes to make a turn at the intersection?

Truth be told, we all have to wait to make turns out into the traffic all along that heavily traveled route, which is a total parking lot at rush hours.

I had to remind Mr. Cohen that in the North Grove, we have begged for traffic lights, where we have to wait a whole 15 minutes, rather than three minutes, to make left turns, and even Mercy Hospital was turned down at their emergency entrance after many traffic studies. Recently, a few blocks from Mercy, the new Villas of Vizcaya condo had a traffic study done and they were also turned down. What makes The Cloisters so special? None of the businesses on Commodore want the light, they are all against it, so it isn't that they are pushing for this.

And one other issue that keeps coming up, seems to be traffic caused by the Arts & Minds School on Commodore Plaza. Neighbors say that there is a lot of traffic when school starts and ends. Well, how about making the school pay for traffic cops at the intersections at both ends of Commodore Plaza at those times? The school is in a strange location to begin with --right in the center of a commercial core. Perhaps they can take some responsibility for the mad traffic scene before and after school, but that is maybe 20 minutes twice a day, and there is not need for a full time traffic light due to the school letting in and out. The schools near Mercy hospital had an off duty cop directing traffic on S. Miami Avenue when school let out for years.

Mr. Cohen stressed that this is not a high priority location for a traffic light in the scheme of things and does not have to be addressed right now. Yet the county is jumping through hoops it seems to accommodate a small group of complainers.

North Grove resident Kitty Terry, referring to Grove residents, who know every inch of the Grove, said, "We know when we stop, we know when we go. We don't need traffic lights for people to drive out of their driveway," referring to The Cloisters neighbors. She also felt that the County should listen to the rest of the Grove on this issue and not a handful of people.

Village Council member, David Collins (also BID director) said it's "a potential traffic jam-creating light."

Patrick Sessions, also on the Village Council said that the light will back up traffic and rush hour will be a nightmare.

Village Council Chair, Michelle Niemeyer, may have come up with a very good solution -- lowering the speed limit in the Center Grove. From Mary Street at the north to Franklin Street at the south, it's a commercial business zone and also a school zone. She felt that a much lower speed limit through that whole section would work to slow down traffic. Most agreed it was a good idea.

Perhaps every seven blocks or so there could be a traffic light if speeding traffic was really a concern in Coconut Grove. If the flow needs to be regulated, one light at Main and Commodore is not going to do that, maybe lights synchronized along the route would help. Mr. Cohen also stated that a light at Commodore and Main would basically mimic the light at Main and Grand a few blocks down. So the flow of traffic would be the same. The bottom line is that it is really all about giving The Cloisters people easy access in and out of their main entrance, a luxury every single person along that route would like to have.

Again, while we find the people at The Cloisters to be nice people, we also feel that this is a selfish issue. It's the reverse of NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) in this case it is YIMFY (Yes in My Front Yard).