How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police are continuing the effort to reduce the prevailing speed in a residential area of Lakeport, the city’s police chief told the Lakeport City Council on Tuesday night.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen gave the Lakeport City Council the update on the traffic situation on 20th Street.
Rasmussen explained that speed surveys are done every five years due to the use of radar for traffic enforcement.
The last one was completed in the fall of 2016, he said. That led to the traffic engineer’s proposal to increase speed in the neighborhood from 25 to 30 miles per hour, based on state rules. The city had little latitude to keep the speed lower under the requirements set by the state.
Rasmussen said he ultimately had asked the council to accept the survey; otherwise, his departments’ hands would have been tied for enforcement.
The council did approve the survey, raising the speed to 30 miles per hour with the recommendation that city staff do what they could to lower the speeds, which at that time were averaging 36 miles per hour, he said.
City departments started working on solutions, which included a striping plan to create a narrowing effect and cause traffic to naturally reduce speed. Rasmussen said he also had to train his new officers on the use of radar.
With his department’s other duties, it’s not always possible to have an officer parked somewhere for speed enforcement, Rasmussen said. However, he reported that officers made numerous stops and wrote two citations on 20th Street on Friday.
He said he’s also borrowed a speed trailer from another agency for a few weeks in order to try to get speeds slowed on 20th Street.
At the end of March more speed survey data was collected by the traffic engineer, and Rasmussen said the result showed that prevailing speeds hadn’t been reduced. Instead, they had risen slightly – up to 37 miles per hour.
He said 20th Street is wide with good pavement, which always leads to faster driving.
Councilman George Spurr asked about education. Rasmussen said that effort is continuing both with neighborhood residents and the public at large.
Rasmussen said he didn’t know what else to recommend, adding that he had believed the narrowing and striping would have led to reduced speed.
Councilman Kenny Parlet, who pointed out that the city already had spent about $17,000 on the striping project, said he believed it was a matter of neighborhood residents not being fooled and continuing to speed.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina agreed. “You guys have done everything that you can,” she told Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said he wanted the council to know that he’s not going to abandon the effort, and that police will continue to do what they can.
He said one of the big complaints he gets is the stop sign at 20th and Hartley streets. In the previous two days his officers had written 10 tickets.
“It’s proved to be a lot more difficult than I actually thought it would be to accomplish the reduction of the speed in a very short amount of time ,” said Rasmussen.
Councilwoman Mireya Turner said she was glad it’s still a high priority.
“We’re obviously not giving up on it,” said Rasmussen.
In other business, the council approved a request from Clearlake Motor Sport Enterprises LLC for use of city streets, Library Park, the boat ramps and city personnel for the second annual Lakeport Sprint Boat Grand Prix event set for June 1 through 3.
Council members also approved a memorandum of understanding with the Lakeport Unified School District as well as a budget adjustment not to exceed $60,000 to fund a sewer main project, and heard a presentation by Dan Peterson of Sutter Lakeside Hospital on the hospital’s operations.
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