Burlington Spotlight
November 2006

IT'S ELECTION TIME!

By Beverly Gill, City Clerk

Tuesday, November 7, 2006 is our next General Election with the polls open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. If you live in the First or Second District, which includes Wards 1-8, you will vote at Cross Lutheran Church, located at 126 Chapel Terrace. If your residence is included in either the Third or Fourth District, Wards 9-16, you will vote at the Veteran's Memorial Building at 588 Milwaukee Avenue. On the ballot at the upcoming election are offices for state, congressional, legislative, county and two statewide referendums.

Absentee ballots are available at City Hall, 300 North Pine Street during the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Before you can vote absentee, you must be registered and then complete and application for an absentee ballot. We have many voters who vote absentee on a permanent basis due to ill health or age and they are automatically sent a ballot for every election. If you or someone you know would be interested in being included on this list, please contact City Hall at (262) 763-7996.

There is always a need for additional poll workers who would like to provide a necessary service to their community. Many of our poll workers commit to the entire day, however, we do have the flexibility to accommodate your schedule. You may contact City Hall at the above phone number or speak with a poll worker on the day of election if you are interested.

Voting and Elections

 

SPEEDING

By Dave Walsh, Chief of Police

This is the first in a series of articles intended to educate the public about traffic issues in the city. The Common Council has asked that the Police Department mount an education campaign to help bolster our efforts at making Burlington a safe place to walk, bicycle, drive and live.

Contrary to public perception, it is not just the young males or truck drivers that speed through the city. Our local statistics show that people from all walks of life choose to ignore posted speed limits, making our streets more dangerous than need be.

One football field. If you are driving your car at 45 miles per hour (MPH) and you notice that you need to stop right away (the proverbial "kid" darting into the street to get his/her ball), it will take you about 300 feet – the length of one football field – to come to a complete stop. At 55 MPH, the distance increases to 403 feet. Even at "just" 35 MPH, it takes about 210 feet (70 yards) to stop your car. Those numbers are taking into account that you are carefully watching the road, that your brakes and tires are in good shape and that the pavement is dry. To provide some perspective, the average downtown block in Burlington is just 264 feet. Kane Street, from Chandler to State Street is 570 feet. And 180 feet (60 yards) is seen as an exceptionally long football pass.

Cars in our modern age accelerate faster, ride smoother and run quieter than ever before. Sometimes we don't even recognize how fast we are driving through the neighborhood. Today's vehicles also have tremendous safety features that minimize injuries to drivers and occupants. Safety features for pedestrians are less developed. And there still exists a great cost for insurance and repairs.

For many, speeding is seen as a "game of tag" where the police "side" hides, sneaks and tries to catch violators. Officers know where people consistently speed and often concentrate enforcement at those locations-more bang for your law enforcement buck. The speeder "side" uses radar detectors, speed-trap tracking websites and urban folklore in trying to avoid being "caught". There are ads selling spray to avoid photo radar and ads offering advice on how to "beat" a speeding ticket.

Speeding (especially in residential neighborhoods) is one of the top complaints in the City of Burlington. Residents are concerned about the unsafe speeds at which drivers traverse our local streets. You may have noticed that police officers are starting to enforce speed laws with fewer warnings and more tickets. More importantly, the Police Department has gathered and researched traffic crash statistics. It is these statistics (coupled with neighborhood complaints) that will guide our traffic enforcement efforts. The "metrics" by which we will gauge success include reduction in traffic crashes and a lowering of average speeds in specialized enforcement zones.

For the sake of our neighborhoods, please SLOW DOWN.

 

LIBRARY NEWS

By: Gayle Falk, Head Librarian and Ruhama Kordatzky Bahr, Youth Services Librarian

Family Event for November

Come to the library for a pajama storytime--all ages are welcome and are encouraged to wear their pj's! We'll start at 6:30 on November 14 with songs and lullabies, stories and some relaxation techniques.

Teen Event

Did you read all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books? We'll be celebrating this book and movie on November 24 at 2 p.m. You MUST register for this event.

Adult Book Discussion Group

A discussion of GOD'S POLITICS: WHY THE RIGHT GETS IT WRONG AND THE LEFT DOESN'T GET IT by Jim Wallis. We meet on Monday, Nov. 27 at 7:00pm. GOD'S POLITICS contains a thoughtful and inspirational discussion of faith and politics. Polling results after the 2004 election emphasized "moral values" as a deciding factor, but differed on what that meant. What do you think are the most important moral values in politics. Copies of this book and an audio version are available at your library.

Burlington Public Library
166 East Jefferson Street
262-763-7623

 

WINTER SEASON REMINDERS

Any ice that has formed on the sidewalk must be treated to prevent the area from being dangerous. Failure to maintain the sidewalk within this 18-hour timeframe may result in the Street Dept. cleaning your sidewalk in which case the City will bill the owner(s).

(Per City Code the amount charged for snow removal will be at the City's full cost, and in all likelihood the City will have to contract this service out since our crews will be busy cleaning up the streets.)

City crews make every effort possible to safely remove snow from all streets in a timely manner as soon as possible after a snowfall. State highways are the first streets to be plowed, followed by the main (arterial) streets, side streets, and then parking lots and alleys.

Concerns/Complaints regarding snow removal should be made to the Street Department at 763-2060.