We've had a responsive week on our traffic problem on the residential raceway. We've had Caddo Commission member Matthew Linn out twice, Gerry May from KTBS out several times, and we've had a radar cop for two days for a total of about five or six hours.
The officer sat out and ran radar Thursday afternoon for about three hours and he wrote tickets as fast as he could. He didn't sit idle more than one or two minutes between tickets before another zoomed by. Same on Friday: he was here about two hours on Friday. I don't think they run radar weekends or after five because he hasn't been back. We hope he returns tomorrow -- with friends. I know how shorthanded SPD is and we appreciate their response and hope it continues.
We've backed off the checkered flag action now that SPD is running radar. I think most people generally don't realize how fast they are going but there are a few that speed by incredibly fast and when we wave at them or yell at them to slow down, they just go faster to prove they can. The only negative comment we got on the KTBS piece is that we are control freaks.
I'm continuing my efforts at slowing people down in absence of the radar man. I thought about traffic shaming. This car, for example...
...is going well over 40.
So is this one.
And this one.
And this one.
And this one.
I could do that all day long. All of those (and more) were taken in one hour's time this morning and they're all over 30. But you can't tell how fast they're going in a still photo, and you really can't tell in the videos I did, either. That's what that data box is for that SPD installed. And that's why I sure wish I could see those reports!
In the end, I guess people are just going to continue to use the street as a raceway. I hope that it doesn't take a tragedy to get them to slow down. One of my neighbors puts orange traffic cones a couple of feet off his curb when his kids play outside, just to warn people to slow down.
I'm doing more research on traffic calming and various ways to get people to slow down. The biggest factor will be getting my neighbors to stand up and fight this battle with us. The old Squeaky Wheel rule, you know.
Last week I posted an open letter (and mailed hard copies) to SPD Chief Willie Shaw, Councilman Oliver Jenkins, Caddo Commission member Matthew Linn, and Otis Jones, Jr., Director of Transportation for Caddo Parish School Board, regarding the speeding issue on my residential street.
The only person who has bothered to respond is Matthew Linn - a courtesy for which I'm very grateful.
From the others? Crickets. Nothing. Not an email, not a letter, not even a phone call.
Meanwhile, the drag races along my residential street continue.
So I've started doing some research because I think if you're going to gripe about a problem then you should at least be able to offer a solution.
There is something called Traffic Calming which works quite well in cities both in the U.S. and Europe.
Some of the genius of Dutch and other European methods is not the use of signage and enforcement to slow traffic, but literally a different road design, and that includes putting s#! in the way.
It is, in essence what my friend across the street was doing when she placed the huge green city garbage can in the middle of the road. And truthfully, that's the only thing that has worked so far.
In addition to excessive speeds, we also have a huge volume of traffic as this street is used as a cut through to avoid traffic on two major arteries nearby. I've been counting cars through the day - taking five-minute interval counts every half hour to get an average of about 1800 cars a day. This is about the same number of cars that Ockley gets, just off of Kings Highway. Ockley is wide and zoned for 35 mph, with painted center lines. There are four lanes which in practice is two wide driving lanes and a parking lane on each side.
In contrast, our street is zoned for 25 mph, is a narrow two lane blacktop with no center line and has numerous residents who park their cars in the road. (I can't even tell you how many of these have been hit.) So, the volume of traffic is a problem.
In addition to the 1800 cars, trucks, and SUVs that zoom through here, we also have 18-wheeler trucks come through to make deliveries to the business areas that border our once quiet neighborhood. There is no way an 18-wheeler should be zooming down this street, yet there is no signage that says not to, so what's to stop them? There also seems to be a large number of lawn service companies with trailers full of equipment that have no qualms about swerving around parked cars dragging their loads behind them.
Yesterday we came VERY close to seeing a collision between a UPS truck and a sky blue BMW.
So, given all this, and the lack of support from city officials, (with the exception of Mr. Linn- God bless him), perhaps my neighbors and I need to get more vocal about our problem. Perhaps we need to appear at City Council meetings and engage the media to make ourselves heard. Perhaps my neighbor needs to continue putting things in the road to forcibly slow the traffic down and maybe some tree limbs need to "fall" into the street. Some natural speed bumps.
We've taken to standing on the curb with checkered flags just to let the speeders know they "won the
race" and can slow down.
(As I write this a taxi cab just flew down the street at 55 mph).
As I've been talking to people about this problem, I've learned that it's a city-wide problem. Do they even write tickets anymore? Why are drivers in such a hurry? Slow down! Life is passing you by fast enough -- at least slow down and enjoy the view. Quit zooming down my street while texting. Watch out for children and animals.
What to do?
To help us out, I suggest that the city post officers here at random times to run radar. Rumble strips might help, and speed tables would help. In some areas, roundabouts help, but I don't think that's viable for my street.
Until the city gets on board to help us, there may just be some civil disobedience going on. Nothing harmful, mind you. No spikes in the road or anything like that. But maybe a big green trash can.
Oliver Jenkins
Shreveport City Council, District C Representative
Matthew Linn
Shreveport City Commission, District 4
Otis Jones, Jr.
CPSB Director of Transportation
RE: Traffic Concern & Speed Limit Violations in Residential Neighborhood
On behalf of myself and many of my neighbors, I find it necessary to report a serious concern regarding speed violations on our residential street. It has become a critical problem and will get even worse as the construction begins on the Youree/Kings Highway intersection.
For years people have used our residential street as a cut-through when traffic backs up on Kings. This will get much, much worse once the construction on that major intersection reaches its peak. That’s a temporary problem lasting only as long as the construction, but it will exacerbate our already very critical problem of speeding on this street.
Our neighborhood has many young children that play outside in the afternoons and that walk home from school after being dropped off by the school bus. Throughout the day, but worse at peak traffic times, the majority of people driving down our street are driving well over the speed limit. It is absolutely not uncommon to see cars driving 40 and 50 miles an hour in our 25 mph speed zone and sometimes worse than that.
Even school buses are guilty: there is one that comes through here so fast we haven’t been able to get the number to call and report him.
The problem is so bad that my neighbors have resorted to either putting garbage cans in the road to slow people down or standing on the curb yelling at people to slow down. A couple of weeks ago, one woman was trying to catch a loose dog and in order to keep cars from hitting him, she stood in the middle of the street waving her arms so cars would slow down. This is all very dangerous and I hate to think what would happen to a child who darted out into the road as kids have been known to do.
Sitting outside in the late afternoon and early evening is like watching the drag races or traffic on an interstate.
I know that SPD is seriously understaffed and that officers are needed in high crime areas, but we would certainly be grateful if this serious problem could be addressed before something disastrous happens.
I invite all of you to contact me for an invitation to sit in the swing under my magnolia tree, sip some iced tea, and watch this circus. Plan to come in the hours right around lunch time or from about 3:30 or 4:00 to 6 or 7:00. Friday evenings are especially wild! But any time is sufficient to see the show; in fact Sunday morning one gentleman slammed on his brakes, burning rubber in the road as he backed up to confront a group of us waving our arms for him to slow down!
I know that people speed all over town and there's nothing special about our case except that this construction (much needed, I might add) is making our problem even worse than usual; the level of frustration among the people that live on this street is at a breaking point which contributes to the danger.
I've sent a version of this post in a letter to all of your offices and I have also emailed it to you all. My contact information is therein and my email is on the sidebar of this blog as well. Feel free to come watch anytime, and see for yourself.
Barksdale Air Force Base hosted its eighth annual Oktoberfest celebration last night in support of Operation Bright Holiday which is a fundraiser to bring airmen home for Christmas. The first year they did this, they were able to send seventeen airmen home for the holidays; last year, over ninety servicemen and women were able to spend Christmas with their families because of this event.
It's a very good cause, indeed!
The team at BAFB that stages this event works for months in preparation. Col. Anderson is a perennial organizer of this event and is always aided by a great crew; this year Lt. Monique Roux headed things up and I know there were many others in assist. While the event has many of the same favorite contests from year to year, there is always some new twist or event that keeps it fresh every year; the organizers learn from previous years and so each year the event is better and better.
For example, the first year there were not nearly enough beer taps - only five. The lines were ridiculously long. The next year there were fifteen; a huge improvement. The first year they ran out of beer within an hour -- the next year there was plenty of beer. I learned from experience too; bring a giant beer stein from home and you don't have to stand in line nearly as often as everyone else!
We were, as always, the first to arrive; they were still setting up when we got there.
We had plenty of food, fun, beer, and music last night.
Dinner was Jaeger Schnitzel, brats, green beans with onions, cucumber dill salad, chicken, German potatoes, and giant pretzels. For dessert, German Chocolate cake.
Our fried Jerry came with us this year.
The band loved Jerry and dubbed him "Luigi." They even played a song for him.
The band was the very talented Alpenmusikanten who has played this event from the first year. These guys are incredibly talented musicians and are very much in demand during Oktoberfest season. We are very grateful that they continue to return to BAFB and support this event!
I lifted my camera to take a photo and Wolfgang shouted "Picture!" in the middle of their song and they posed.
They work the crowd and make certain everyone has a good time.
The children dominated the dance floor in the early evening and it was huge fun watching them run in circles and dance. The band would cue them on occasion: "OK kids, everyone SCREAM!" And they did. And then the cue: "STOP!" and they did. Col. Anderson led them in the Chicken Dance.
We took the obligatory Oktoberfest pictures, sort of.
The contests were back. I sat out of the costume contest this year. I'm glad I did -- a guy with a baby won. How can you compete against that?!
There was the Shoe Slapping Contest.
There was a yodeling contest too, but I was in a beer line and missed that.
The band encourages a lot of audience participation: this is volunteer Margaret on the washboard.
She did a great job!
The Hand Jive:
There was no Yard Drinking contest this year, which made me sad.
Oktoberfest 2015 has officially kicked off in Munich: "O'zapft is!"
The annual celebration is expected to bring six million visitors this year.
There is no more Bacchanalian festival in existence with perhaps Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It's obviously my favorite holiday -- I have blogged at least 47 times about it.
Locally, Shreveport has joined the nation in forming their own version of Oktoberfest which will be Sunday, September 25 at Zocolo on Ashley Ridge. It is $20 to purchase a buffet pass, but you don't have to pay just to get in. If you plan on drinking, beer is $6.00; live music will be via Professor Pork Chop.
Steve and I will be attending the annual Oktoberfest festivities at Barksdale Air Force Base on October 2; this is a fundraiser for Operation Bright Star which brings airmen home for the holidays. We have attended all seven years so far; this one makes eight. We have the proud honor of being the first to come and the last to leave each year.
I was honored to win the costume contest two years but got robbed last year; an indignity I hope to remedy this year.
No, seriously, it's all in good fun and this is a celebration that gets better every year.
The food is great.
The beer is cold and plentiful.
And what better way to celebrate than partying with the men and women of our military?
And it's for a great cause. Doesn't get any better than that. Tickets are available at the Barksdale Club.
Last year the Highland Jazz & Blues Festival was nearly frozen out; if you attended last year you were bundled up in many layers and probably had hot potatoes in your pockets.
This year the festival was bumped up from November to September and the weather was the other extreme -- hot and humid, but it was a glorious day nonetheless! It was nearly perfect, actually, and any attendance that may have been missed last year was certainly made up for this year.
This is my favorite local festival, hands down, without a doubt. This was the twelfth year and I think I may have only missed one year -- the first one, perhaps. Not sure.
Highland is an eclectic, artsy, historic neighborhood and is filled with the most interesting people in town and they all come out to celebrate good music and to support local artists of all types.
We got there about 11:30 to stake out our spot before the noon kickoff with Buddy Flett and it was clear early on that it was going to get crowded. There were a lot of people already gathered on the slope before the Twisted Root main stage. Because temperatures were expected to hit the upper 90s today, we looked for shade.
Buddy Flett was in fine form and he is always a favorite.
The dancers came out early today:
We decided to scout out the food and the vendors after Buddy's set. The vendors this year were terrific: there were maybe three jewelry vendors, a couple of artists, plenty of food vendors, and some political campaigning as well (tis the season).
Steve and I both opted for Ki Mexico; I got the chicken pablano tacos with cilantro and onions with a middle range spice and it was great!
Lucky for me, they have a brick and mortar location near my house.
There were plenty of dogs there today -- this is always a dog-friendly event.
The local brewery, Great Raft, was representing; I hope Flying Heart is there next year, too!
Robert Trudeau was there with a fabulous percussion group. I did a Periscope of them; I'm not sure how long Periscope keeps video but if you have a 'Scope account you can check them out here.
They played between sets and were awesome!
The Matthew Davidson Band was performing on the Gazebo stage. There was a lot more shade at that end of the park, which was a bonus.
Paparazzi.
There's always a Hula Hoop Girl there...
These people had the right idea with the hot sun overhead; I'm just glad I wasn't sitting behind them!
A.J. Cascio is always a crowd favorite and he had Joe Nadeau with him today.
Nobody makes the harmonica sing like AJ.
This is the mid-day crowd:
Huge, and always a great place to "people watch."
This guy was dancing all over the park and having a great time; and another Hula Hoop Girl:
On our way out I had to stop on the hill by the Gazebo stage; it's my annual homage to my friend Rocque who I always would run into at local musical events; nobody I know loved local music and loved to support local music more than he did. He loved the classic greats, too; Rocque had seen more concerts than anyone I know and had scrapbooks filled with ticket stubs and photos from every great rock concert you could name. Every year I stop in the same spot where I sat with Rocque one afternoon at this same festival and I raise a toast among the pines and the music to my friend who is listening from above now.
Now who should I find in that same spot today? My friend Corina, which is totally appropriate because there is no bigger lover and supporter of local music than this chick. Rocque would love it. Karma is real.
And so, another Highland Jazz & Blues Fest is a success. I ran into so many people I don't see nearly enough; this festival is the best one in Shreveport for it's mix of food, music, friends, and locale. The date change appears to be a huge success. In September, in Louisiana, you never know, but odds are you're going to get better weather than you do in November. With the Red River Revel kicking off in the next couple of weeks, this new date seems like a good fit.
It was a beautiful day to drive up to Gillam, Louisiana and watch a 95-year old WWII veteran jump out of a perfectly good airplane to celebrate his birthday with a few friends.
With a nip of fall in the air, we took the top off the Jeep and made the 25 mile trek from Shreveport to Gillam to the tiny airport in the middle of a cotton patch next to the Red River. Ray Urban just turned 95 years old and to celebrate, he decided to invite the friends and family, cook a few hot dogs, have some cake, and jump out of an airplane, a feat which would make him the oldest person in Louisiana to parachute from a plane.
By the time we arrived around noon, the cars were lined up along the blacktop road next to the cotton fields and the hangar was filled with family and friends camped out in chairs or perched on whatever tractor, trailer, or crate was handy.
There was a long table set up where you could eat as many hot dogs as you could stand, courtesy of Ray.
And there was a dog, of course. I never got the dog's name but he was a friendly old dog and was very interested in the hot dogs! John Powell, Chef de Gare of the local 40 & 8 Voiture 137, served the dog a couple of cut up hot dogs, earning him some applause from the group.
Ray went off to suit up and get ready for his jump.
Ray Urban was born in 1920 in Bogalusa, Louisiana; when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor he was attending Louisiana Tech; he enlisted in the Marines a month later. He was working on parachute training when kidney stones quashed that and Ray then became an aviation mechanic:
In June of 1943 he went overseas to Midway as part of a squadron, VMF212. "We didn't' see any action. You stay there three months, you watch the gooney birds and after that they watched you," he quips. He was sent on to Espiritu Santos, where he lived in a Dallas hut, so named for the housing's construction in Dallas. He was stationed in the Russell Island, then landed on Bougainville on D+10 November 1944, ten days after the invasion of that island. Ray was often bombed by Japanese, and crouched in foxholes topped with coconut logs and sand bags. Ray returned to Hawaii from Green Island in December of 1945
Ray never lost his love for parachuting, however, and his jump today makes him the oldest person in the state of Louisiana to jump out of an airplane.
As Ray made his way to the plane today he was swamped with hugs, high-fives, and plenty of good wishes. He was as excited as a kid at Christmas.
He was surrounded by media, microphones, video cameras, and cell phone cameras all wanting to record the historic moment.
He was finally able to break away and made his way to the plane.
There was never a single moment of hesitation or second thought.
Once Ray reached the plane there was another pause for pictures and interviews before he climbed in.
As the plane roared to life and began to roll down the runway everyone cheered and waved.
And he was off!
We were told it would take about twenty minutes or so for the plane to gain proper altitude, so many of us just stood on the blacktop and watched the ascent. We'd lose sight of them and then someone would spot them...
The cameraman was looking, too.
The day could not have been more beautiful.
There were people of all ages there today, from the very young to the very mature. The fella that lives next to the Veterans Memorial Park in Belcher was there and passed out lovely photos of the park. He stood by to watch the jump.
And then we saw one chute open in the clear blue sky, then another.
Down, down he came.
Slowly drifting down, enjoying the ride.
And the landing!
(Sorry for the end of that -- forgot to turn off the video before I moved my camera!)
Family and friends (and media) ran up to be sure all was okay; it looked like a hard landing...
...and Ray sat right up with a big grin on his face.
He said he'd see us same time, same place, in five more years.
And then more interviews...
And a wonderful family photo:
Before we could have cake!
After Ray's jump, Steve went for a glider ride and spent about 45 minutes drifting over the cotton fields, catching one air pocket after another. He declared it to be a fabulous experience!
Drifting around...
After his ride we returned to the hangar to say goodbye to Ray before heading out.
All in all, it was a great day. Perfect weather, great company, and a brave, inspirational man who is good as gold all the way through. It doesn't get any better than that.
I hope I make it to Ray's next jump in five years!
