Members of the Van Dam and Church neighborhood association say this sound has become all too common where they live. They called on the Saratoga Springs city council to take steps to protect their families and neighborhood at the December 5th meeting.
Residents of the historic thoroughfare voiced their frustrations over trucks dominating traffic in the neighborhood, pleading with commissioners to pass a weight limit.
Dennis Gosier said the ordinance was only the first step.
“But we needed to get this ordinance passed to ban the trucks. And now its passed and we’re going to work on enforcement and keep attending meetings, and keep pounding the pavement, and working on the council members, and making sure the law is enforced, and trucks are banned on Van Dam Street. Because it is a beautiful historic street and we want to keep it that way and we want it to remain that way for the future for our kids to grow up on,” said Gosier.
With the ordinance passed, new signage went up. But, without a Saratoga Springs Police Department traffic enforcement division – disbanded in 2014 – it remains unclear what progress has actually been made.
Erin Maciel works from home and is raising her kids feet away from the new signs. She says she’s seen a difference.
“So, one thing I have noticed is that the trucks are slowing down. They’re not going as fast just because I think they know they’re doing the wrong thing, right, you know what I’m saying? It’s just kind of funny. They see the sign, they pause, and then they like creep through. So, I would say most of the neighbors are like ‘oh, I don’t hear as many trucks.’ In the middle of the night, we still hear them like barreling through. So we knew this is the first step,” said Maciel.
Maciel says the five-ton limit is just a start.
“We have to do enforcement along with safety improvements, both have to be parallel, right? More crosswalks, more, you know, neck-downs, curb extensions, really pedestrianizing our streets throughout downtown is going to give a signal to trucks that this is not just your downtown,” explained Maciel.
Susan Taylor-Hall started renting her apartment on Van Dam last year, and hasn’t noticed any difference.
“And it is difficult to even have a normal conversation sometimes when the trucks go by. You literally have to stop and say ‘now, what was that?’ Because you can’t hear over the trucks going by. It actually rattles the, you know, pictures hanging on the wall,” said Taylor-Hall.
Emily Young-DeLeury has been living on Vam Dam since 2008 and hadn’t heard about the ordinance.
“Every time it hits one of those culverts there or manhole covers, I hear it all night long. And I had heard that they were going to do something to reduce the truck traffic, and I certainly would love it. I meant to have my bedroom in front of the house but I moved it to the back because of the noise level,” said Young-DeLeury.
Political tensions were on display in debate about the traffic, with former Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen being accused of approving the change to make Van Dam the de facto trucking route in Saratoga Springs.
Matheisen denies the claims and demanded an apology from outgoing Mayor Ron Kim, his November opponent, and other councilors.
