At least one City of Batavia resident is fed up with the traffic jams at the Dunkin Donuts at 405 West Main St. and ambulance sirens in the vicinity of Oak and Union streets.
Speaking during the public comments portion of tonight’s City Council Conference Meeting at the City Hall Council Board Room, Michael Barrett urged council members to look into a way to alleviate both situations.
The owner of Barrett’s Batavia Marine Sporting Goods reported that vehicles lined up for coffee and donuts are infringing upon his property and, moreover, said he is afraid that a major accident is just waiting to happen.
“They’re blocking my east entrance to come into the store and they’re backing up onto the (West Main) street and forming a line,” he said after the meeting. “So, they’re taking one lane of the street and blocking it off just so they can go into Dunkin Donuts.”
He noted that there is a sign there that indicates no left hand turns, but it isn’t being heeded.
“I’ve put signs out; I’ve put pylons out, and I see that Arby’s has got a little bit of that and downtown Tim Hortons had that until they had that extension put on the back part of their lot,” he continued. “If the police would just park out front for a couple days and just keep the people from turning and keep the traffic flowing, it wouldn’t be so bad.
“There’s going to be one heck of an accident coming one of these days. They’re going to come barreling down the street and ram right into somebody that’s parked in front of my store.”
During the meeting, he expressed his frustration to Council, stating he doesn’t know what to do next.
As far as the sirens are concerned, Barrett, who lives on nearby Richmond Avenue, said it seems to be constant as ambulances speed south on Oak Street before exiting onto Union Street to get to West Main.
Council members agreed with Barrett’s observations, with Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. asking City Manager Rachael Tabelski to see if the ambulances could sometimes use a different route that could be just as fast and to study traffic patterns at Dunkin Donuts during its peak times.
“I can hear them from where I live (on Otis Street),” Jankowski said about the sirens. “Maybe they could vary their routes a little bit … but we will let them know there has been a complaint.”
Council member John Canale said he checked into the siren issue in the past, and acknowledged that “it’s almost constant and very unsettling.”
It was asked if the ambulances could turn on the sirens only when they approached intersections, but Canale and Tabelski said that they have to have them on for insurance purposes.
