By Adam Aasen
Basketball legend Bobby “Slick” Leonard used to yell at referees about blown whistles. But now the longtime Carmel resident is furious about what he says is a “bad call” made by the city.
“Slick” is angry about a stop sign at 126th Street and Auman Drive – and he’s not the only one.
“It’s very ridiculous to me,” he said. “The people are sitting there bumper to bumper, using gas in their cars when there’s no reason for it. I could go on all day about it.”
City Councilor Sue Finkam has introduced an ordinance to remove the 3-way stop that she claims creates long traffic backups just to let a few residents out. She said it’s inconsistent because there aren’t similar stop signs to let people out of other neighborhoods. Plus, residents could easily take Range Line Road if they prefer, she said.
Finkam said the long backups could make it difficult for emergency vehicles.
“In this case I can find no plausible reason to keep the stop sign where it’s at,” she said. “Other than the convenience of a neighborhood and that doesn’t outweigh the safety problems that having it there create.”
But many want to keep the stop sign. City Councilor Eric Seidensticker said he also believes it’s a safety issue because the stop sign slows down traffic and there are many children who live in those homes nearby.
“It really doesn’t affect anything in terms of travel time,” he said. “People say, ‘I had an extra two minutes and forty five seconds to wait.’ Well, I’m really sorry about that. Leave a few minutes earlier.”
There’s also a separate conflict brewing. City Councilor Luci Snyder said it’s against council rules of “common courtesy” to introduce a bill regarding an issue outside your district without consulting with that district’s councilor.
“You have a councilor member who is outside the district trying to make a determination of what’s best for the people in the district,” Seidensticker said. “I find that interesting. That’s kind of why you typically pay attention to the person who has the best pulse who what’s going on in the district.”
Snyder said she trusts Seidensticker, but she has also heard people honk their horn in protest at the stop sign.
“I would ask Eric if he would please ask his constituents… because I think it is impeding traffic and maybe we should re-survey his constituents,” she said.
Finkam said it affects everyone. She forwarded several angry e-mails to prove her point.
And one famous resident says he won’t give up until the stop sign is removed.
“I would really like to have something to do to make it easier for people,” Leonard said. “And I know this thing creates a hardship on people trying to get home from work. If you could show me one viable reason why that stop sign is there, I’d be willing to listen. But I don’t think there is one.”
Finkam said the ordinance will be introduced at the Council’s Nov. 17 meeting.
