Complaints Heard, 2-way Streets Return

SEA ISLE CITY – Sea Isle City Council set into motion an ordinance to revert three streets to their original two-way status. 
Earlier, city administration had enacted but did not implement a measure to change 40th, 50th, and 51st streets as one-way. That action was in response to the concerns of certain residents to safety and traffic flow issues.
In reaction, other residents were adamantly opposed to the benefits of making their streets one-way and made their opposition known to the mayor and council.
“We earlier took an action that made sense from a safety standpoint, which the chief of police supported, to change these streets to one-way. Nevertheless, after hearing from other residents of these streets we realized that although we had strictly followed accepted procedures, there was a perception that we had not done enough to notify people of the change nor solicited their input,” explained George Savastano, city business administrator.
“With this new ordinance, we are doing what makes sense to address these concerns. This is a neighborhood issue, and in hindsight, we should have had more effort to get a wider range of feedback which we sincerely want before enacting any change. So, we are going to wait until the fall and see how the navigation, safety, and parking issues play out on these streets and then at that time do a thorough review with full community input.
“We will be sending letters to apprise all relevant residents about what is going on,” Savastano continued.
During the public comment portion, several residents expressed appreciation of the new strategy by the administration, describing the negatives about making their streets one-way, including difficulty in accessing Landis Avenue during the summer.
Michael Monichetti queried council, “Aren’t you just reacting to a few people’s opinions and where will this end?” In response, Council President Mary Tighe said, “We are always reacting to the concerns of our residents and want to do what’s best for everyone as we are doing with this situation.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.