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Opinion: Parking and the Hillside Reserve

In his weekly report Interim City Manager Mark Alvarado summarizes the City Council's vote (see his summary here: http://goo.gl/NxDH8 ) on what to do with the hillside area the city bought years ago, but there is one phrase I'd like to highlight.


In her motion to adopt the recommended plan, City Councilwoman Becky Shevlin added additional requirements, the one that concerns me here directs "the City Engineer to work with the Traffic Safety Committee and the property owners on issues relating to traffic and parking."


Great, but this should be understood as addressing the question, "How much parking do we add and where do we put it?" not, "Let's reduce parking near the trails."


I know more traffic and parking would be hard on the homeowners near the Cloverleaf trailhead, but they were in the forefront of asking all Monrovians to pay for this reserve-recreation area, and they got that! That was the trade-off. They avoided residential development right above their heads by agreeing to a bond issue that would make it a reserve-recreation area that people could use, and for a few dozen of them to now try and make it more difficult to access an area that all Monrovians own is just not right. So I hope the city engineer can work out a plan that will give people easier access to the area and minimize the impact on the neighbors as much as possible.


- Brad Haugaard

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