Residents Discuss Safety, Traffic at Mayor's Counsel Meeting

Members of the Mayor's Counsel discussed the town's dangerous crosswalks and traffic congestion at the group's first meeting last night, offering complaints and solutions on issues facing the town.

The Counsel was thought up by Mayor Peter Fosselman to give residents another avenue of communication with the Kensington's government, and 13 people showed up to the inaugural meeting.

Jody Krieger, of Lexington Street, said many of the town's crosswalks are unsafe for pedestrians, especially along Connecticut Avenue.

The group discussed many possible solutions, including crosswalk flags, painted lines at stop signs and brick crosswalks.

Fosselman said the town can fund pedestrian safety projects with its speed camera revenues, which amounted to about $185,000 last year.

He said some of the more perilous roads in town are owned by the state, including Metropolitan and Connecticut avenues, but that the the town will work with the Highway Administration to alleviate dangers to pedestrians.

Peter Bartram, of Warner Street, said traffic on Knowles Avenue between Summit Avenue and Connecticut Avenue often gets backed up, as unsychronized lights force cars to a stand-still.

The county has timed all of the lights on Knowles between Rockville Pike and Connecticut to facilitate traffic flow, Fosselman said, but he plans reach out to the county to discuss the daily traffic backup.

Fosselman said he was happy to leave the meeting with a laundry list of items to research, discuss and perhaps bring before the Town Council. He said he hopes the Counsel continues to highlight problems in town that might otherwise fall through the cracks.

"These are the smaller issues that really matter to folks," he said. "This is the whole reason I wanted to form this group."

The Counsel will meet quarterly from here on out, and a second meeting is yet to be scheduled.