Another citizen emailed the Mayor expressing dismay that the City of Lincoln doesn’t make the University pay for traffic control surrounding UNL home football games. This writer SENT HIS MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS and held up the example of Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan. The Mayor’s Office asked me to respond on behalf of the administration, which required just a slight rewrite of last week’s response to another correspondent.
Don’t think we’d win the case in the court of public opinion, if we took our whistles and went home. Maybe I’m wrong, though.
Friday, August 19, 2011
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20 comments:
What is the actual economic impact on game days? I suspect it's hard to get exact numbers since some would be more mall patrons, but what is a guesstimate?
7:23,
I have no idea. I think I heard Wendy Birdsall, president of the chamber of commerce, talking about this one day, though, and it was well into the millions. I'm sure someone out there has done a quasi-scientific analysis. When you see the crowds at bars, restaurants, Southpointe, Gateway, and the hotels, you've got to believe that it is huge with a capital H.
This 2005 report from UNL's Bureau of Business Research estimated a total annual impact in 2005 of $114.3 million on the city of Lincoln. I believe this more than "quasi-scientific." But then again, economics is the dismal science.
http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2005/08/31/Athletic+Department+had+$114.3+million+impact+on+Lincoln-area+economy
At some point, something has to give, Director. Now that the city is no longer paying for a traffic detail as in years past, they are using street strength officers to staff the traffic direction. This is depleting the number of officers responding to calls, which causes concern for officer safety as well as response time for citizens. For example, the Northeast team has 6 officers scheduled and 4 are being used for football traffic. This leaves 2 to respond to calls for service. If one goes down on an EPC or injury accident, this leaves one with backup being a far distance away.
When will we learn to say no to everyone but our own officer's safety?
Personally, I see no real need for police directing traffic on game days, or for the most part, any other event. Traffic laws and traffic controls that are in place should do the job. My experience seems to be that if there is a cop directing traffic, it takes me longer to get where I'm going than when there isn't one. With streets and/or lanes being closed, it is confusing and, unless one knows ahead of time about them ahead of time, they cause delays that wouldn't have otherwise occurred.
Obviously, traffic is going to move slower on game days and when other large events are going on, but I don't think the presence of police change that much. People just need to plan for extra travel time and deal with it.
Of course, when people illegally pull into intersections when they can plainly see they will be blocking cross traffic when the light turns, they should be ticketed. Other traffic violations, which may occur more frequently due to drivers in a hurry, or frustrated in heavy traffic situations such as game days, should also be ticketed. I realize the increase in these kind of things would require more traffic enforcement, hence more police presence and therefore more expense, too. However, I think their enforcement efforts would be a better use of their time than simply directing traffic, which the law and traffic control devices already in place can handle. They would also provide income to the city in the form of fines.
I'm sure there are other considerations and problems with my theory on this, but that's the way I see it.
So Steve - Rather than taking a proactive stance and offer additional controls when dealing with thousands of individuals swarming into a congested area.... your theory is that officers should take a reactive position and watch for people jumping greens and running reds or blocking intersections or jaywalkers or not being in the pedestrian walkway, etc etc and then write those violations. Try to get people pulled over or waived down to address the issue with them personally... meanwhile other violations continue but now there may be no authority figure watching. Hmmmm. I think expecting everybody to be compliant and addressing it when they aren't is a lot to ask. That doesn't even happen around elementary schools when dealing with presumably caring parents.
Well, at least LPD can direct traffic fairly well... much better then they can solve hit and runs, and a few other crimes.
Steve, have you been downtown lately on a game day? I'm delighted to have police there so I can safely walk across the street. Or, get thru with my car and have the people out of the cross-walk. LPD does a great job with Big Red Fans!
Actually, I try to avoid downtown on game day (or any other day). However, having said that I realize writing tickets for everyone who violates traffic laws would be difficult at best, I think most people would learn to cope with the lack of officers directing them where and when to go. In fact, it often seems to me that people are confused whether to obey the officer, or the light, or are worried about what the other guy will do if they follow the officer's directions. I think it often gets fewer people through an intersection with someone directing traffic than it would just going by the lights that are in place. It also seems to me that people (the majority anyway) respond rather well to situations such as when traffic signals are out of order for some reason. Last night was a good example. There were many traffic lights not working due to the storm, and I didn't see anyone taking advantage of the fact that they didn't have to stop. Most everyone slowed down, checked carefully, and took turns. I think given the opportunity, most would respond equally well to the heavy traffic situations downtown on game day. Sure, there are always some idiots or inconsiderate jerks who will mess things up on occasion, but most people would soon realize that following the lights and laws is the quickest way to get where they are going safely.
Again, this is just an opinion. I'm not trying to assert that my theory is indeed what would happen. However, it would seem to be an answer to the problem of coming up with the money to pay for traffic control that may not even be needed.
It is only right to make UNL pay for traffic...ect.
It's funny (or not) how so many people seem to think it makes a great deal of difference which public entity pays for something. In the long run, it doesn't matter to the average citizen if something is paid for by the city, the county, LPS, UNL, the state, or even the feds, or any other public entity. Where do you suppose their money comes from? Your pocket and mine. Even when private entities pay for something, such as businesses, private citizens, charitable organizations, etc., the money they spend most likely came from sales to the public (you and me), donations from the public (you and me), or direct taxes on the public (such as the extra taxes we now pay for food, drink, and lodging that will supposedly pay for the arena). The only way you and I can keep more of our money is to stop spending so much of it, and try to stop the government from spending it for us. Of course, much of the money spent by the government goes back into our pockets in the form of wages for the work we do or products we provide. However, it seems to go predominantly to the people who already have plenty and do little to earn it. The rest is trickled out to the people who actually perform the labor on these projects, and often, it's barely enough for them to make ends meet.
Steve - I'm not sure what intersections you were at during recent storms, but many did not feel the need to stop, that was everyone elses' responsibility. Many a citizen felt the need to call the police to direct traffic because drivers couldn't figure out a four-way stop on their own.
Anonymous 1:30pm - Providing there is a witness, most of the time it is a partial or inaccurate plate provided to officers. Finding a car based on that or the dent or scratch that matches up, might as well be asking LPD to find a needle in a haystack.
@9:23. Apparently officer safety is the last thing this City thinks about. LPD has been short staffed for years but has been extremely lucky. It will take a big lawsuit by an injured or killed Officer's family to straighten things out.
Steve apparently is clueless on how traffic flow works during major events without the presence of officers directing traffic. IT DOES NOT FLOW, IT IS AT A STANDSTILL.
In the end; University of Michigan is negotiating a deal with Ann Arbor to pay for those services. All it took was the city council to say they weren't going to do it but that showed solidarity from city management; something that Lincoln is lacking.
http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-responds-to-ann-arbors-request-for-reimbursement-of-game-day-traffic-manageme/
anon 10:30 p.m
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there would be no need to stop at an intersection where traffic lights were disabled unless there was cross traffic approaching from one's right side. Yes, many people may have gone through these intersections without stopping. I didn't see any abusing the fact that the lights weren't working, and I was driving around a rather large area as part of the Lancaster Amateur Radio Emergency Response team for quite some time to report just such issues as well as other storm damage.
4:11 p.m
I don't know how old you are, but I can't remember the last time police weren't involved in traffic control at a major event in Lincoln. I'm curious how you know it traffic would not flow, but instead be at a standstill.
I've seen traffic on gamedays at a STAND STILL! I've seen police in this traffic at a STAND STILL which means Fire and Ambulance services aren't getting through either. Then you see 3-5 officers come out in their bright green vests and whistles at each intersection down there and get things moving again. They are more efficient than traffic engineering and lights as they can make adjustments with each other on the radio. Praise LPD for their traffic control downtown on gamedays! Without them, nobody would get anywhere, including well-needed emergency services. If you have any doubts, get downtown 3 hours before game starts, and watch it for yourself.
Believer
The solution seems obvious. Put roundabouts in every downtown intersection. Traffic flow is excellent and there are no traffic lights or stop signs to to enhance with an officer. Problem solved.
Another possible solution: Let the traffic control officers sell alcohol to traffic passing them at the intersections. Imagine: between the income from the sales, the arena tax, and the DUI tickets at the next intersection, it's a win, win, win!
@Steve, August 19, 2011 4:37 PM
I'm not sure which intersections you were at where people were being responsible, but 27th street was a nightmare. At most, only 25% of the cars were slowing (let alone stopping) at the unsignaled intersections.
At 27th & Capitol Parkway, I witnessed a police cruiser about get t-boned by a large pickup that just blasted through without slowing down. The cop even had his lights and siren on.
One only needs to look at the accident reports for those storm days to see how many idiots weren't treating the intersections like four-way stops, thus leading to the police having no manpower available to direct traffic.
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