Traffic patrol legislation canceled

We have received a letter from Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi reporting the recent increase in CHP focus on traffic enforcement in El Dorado Hills and in El Dorado County in general. The letter ends by saying "After extensive research and consideration, I have decided not to carry legislation on this issue. I believe that the El Dorado Highway Patrol is taking steps to address this issue. I encourage you to continue to work with local officials."

We appreciate the increase in CHP service but are concerned that the response will still be too little. It is already many years too late. We also appreciate the incidental traffic enforcement by the Sheriff, but must note that most of the County Sheriffs presence necessarily is east of El Dorado Hills.

At this time the CHP is increasing its presence in El Dorado County, but only one CHP officer is assigned specifically to cover El Dorado Hills, using Fire Station 85 as his base. So far our best chance for better traffic patrol was the 2005 attempt to incorporate as a city. Opponents correctly pointed out that the initial police operating budget per capita would have been about half that of Folsom, but this still would have dramatically improved traffic patrol level of service while matching the existing level of Sheriff's service for general law enforcement. Allowing abundant room for debate from each side of the incorporation debate, city police staffing would have been in the range of 20 to 34 sworn officers (more probably 27 to 33), all with full authority to enforce the Vehicle Code in EDH.

Can we set a goal to have at least 20 CHP officers dedicated to 24/7 patrol on EDH's 122 miles of increasingly urban roads?

As Assemblyman Nakanishi suggested, we will continue to seek support from local agencies.  The CHP officers who are here continues to serve us well, and we need more of them. Historically, the main issue is funding. We have exhausted the possibilities for funding that seemed potentially feasible, but we will continue to look for other means.

Student hit by car on Monte Verde Drive

As reported yesterday in Village Life:  "Monte Verde Drive residents' traffic safety concerns were born out last Wednesday night, Dec. 5, by the sight of 16-year old Richard Thornton lying unconscious on the street with his arms and legs askew, head bent unnaturally, blood trickling from both ears."

Remarkably, he survived with no major injuries after having been hit and tossed onto the roof of a car as he chased a runaway dog.  This could easily have been a fatal accident.

Residents in the Monte Verde area were among those who spoke at the two Town Hall meetings in October, finishing the second meeting with an impassioned plea for help to prevent exactly such accidents. This is one of many locations in El Dorado Hills that needs the ultimate traffic calming measure:  Traffic Patrol.


Web site and email update

The Citizens Alliance web site has just been moved to a new web hosting provider. This was another case of necessity, with parts of our service having been effectively disabled when the old service provider moved from Santa Monica to Phoenix and probably exchanged most of its old staff for new staff.

There may be some rough edges in the new web site or with email to and from alliance@edhca.net. One deliberate omission is that the blog is no longer present even though it is still listed on the array of buttons. In practice the Citizens Alliance does not have human resources to update a blog frequently, and our news postings serve reasonably well as an equivalent.

In the near future the blog will be replaced with a new web site section for information about local elections in the June 2008 Primary.