Abbett Avenue Area Residents Raise Trash, Traffic Concerns

Helen Arnold, who lives on Cottage Place, approached the Morristown council last month to bring up the issue of street cleanliness in the second ward.

Last time she was the only resident to speak up. On Tuesday, several members of the second ward came forward and many had other issues related to Abbett Avenue as well.

Street Cleanliness

Arnold read a prepared letter:

“We the residents of the second ward of the Town of Morristown would like the streets of our streets cleaned on a scheduled basis. This has been an issue for our residents for far too long,” said Arnold. “The DPW does an excellent job with the truck and the manpower they have. We as residents are very proud of their men and the job that they do. We would appreciate a schedule for street cleaning … to allow residents to move their vehicles.”

She added that posting the schedule would allow residents to “become again accustomed to a scheduled day and time. This has been standard practice for many years.”

Arlaria Jackson, who has lived on Abbett for more than 30 years, said that “trash is piling up; it’s terrible

Other residents said that some residents leave recycling and trash cans out for many days.

“Sometimes they put (the garbage) out and it stays out until the next week until someone comes and picks it up. I feel like that’s a problem,” said Abbett Avenue resident Ann Futrell.

Liberty Street resident Angel Vega said, “Morristown has come a long way, but if you come to my neighborhood and you look around, it’s kind of embarrassing. People say, ‘oh, you live on that side of town.’"

“The garbage is out of control,” said Vega. He asked if the Morristown DPW could pick up the garbage that the garbage pick-up company, Blue Diamond, misses.

Councilwoman Raline Smith-Reid said that she did receive from the administration a map “that includes 10 different routes and these routes include all streets within the town of Morristown.”

“But, what the residents are asking for is to get placed on some regular schedule … which they can become familiar to,” added Smith-Reid. “They’re also asking for us to start posting some of the streets that are going to be cleaned, so residents can be familiar with which days they can expect the street sweeper.”

Smith-Reid also noted that “We have DPW workers that pick up trash in our parks, but every so often, Blue Diamond doesn’t pick up all of the trash that is left out. I was wondering if there was time for DPW to pick up (bottles, litter, recycling) left behind by Blue Diamond."

Dougherty said that the town will follow up on the trash and recycling cans and make sure that they are not “put out before 5 p.m.”

As for the street sweeping, Dougherty said that the reports show that it has been done three times in one month and that the “issue could be cars” parked on the street when the street sweeper comes through.

As in the last council meeting, Dougherty said that if a notice goes out with the street cleaning schedule, “What do we do when cars are not moved? … Do we ticket them or tow them?”

He also posed the question of whether or not residents want more street cleaning per month, which would be possible but would come at a cost. The state currently mandates that towns clean their streets once a month, but Morristown cleans the streets three times.

Business Administrator Michael Rogers added that there are a limited number of people who can drive the street sweeper.

Speeding and Traffic

Several Abbett Avenue residents brought up the issue of traffic, speeding and safety.

Jackson said that in her 30+ years of living on that street, she has “never seen the traffic like it is today. They’re speeding like they are on 287. I can’t walk across the street like I used to. It’s absolutely ridiculous; the traffic is coming eight different ways on this little, tiny street.”

“I live there, I raise my children there. I want to be able to raise my grandkids in Morristown,” said Jackson. “And the trucks, I never seen so many big trucks in all my life coming down this itty bitty street. Something has to be done. Police come and sit there for maybe two hours and they leave. As soon as they leave, (cars) speed up again.”

Futrell also pointed out the traffic problem.

“My concern is with the traffic, especially in the morning and in the afternoon."

She said that the traffic light at Abbett and MLK was originally put in place to help with traffic, but when people see the yellow light, they speed to make it or people make U-turns on Abbett.

“There’s a lot of traffic on that road. I’ve lived there for 30 something years and raised my kids there and … all of a sudden, all this traffic is coming,” said Futrell.

“There are other possibilities that we can look at so that we don’t have all the cut-through traffic going to and from 287,” said Smith-Reid.

Dougherty added that they could get the town planners to take a look at the traffic flow on that street.

“The speeding issue on Abbett … some traffic (studies) have been done on that street and we should look at doing more. I think we should look at engineering and see if we can we restrict weight, which in turn will limit the trucks, on that street,” said Dougherty. Smith-Reid said that she thinks that’s a fair solution.

Traffic Light

Vega, 43, also brought up an issue with the traffic light at Abbett and Ridgedale avenues coming “off of 287, exit 36.”

“I come home and I have to wait 10 minutes at a traffic light,” said Vega.  “I was advised that it’s done by the highway, but I just want to come home at night. I don’t want to make any illegal turns or run a red light. Sometimes you can’t do nothing, you just have to wait.”

In response to the traffic light, Smith-Reid said “it wasn’t until Michael (Rogers) mentioned it to me that I experienced it. I think this is something that needs to be addressed … It’s a hazard because there have been several times when 287 backed up onto that ramp with many cars, including trucks.”

Rogers said that there is a camera radar above the traffic light that will trigger the lights. In the past this has been a problem at this specific light and “It was not catching the vehicles that are queuing up … We got a DOT field engineer to come out. It was uncalibrated. We had to recalibrate it and for a good couple months, it was working fine.”

He added that the camera may have been uncalibrated by being adjusted by wind or possibly something else, like a bird.

Vega added that it’s difficult to see the street sign for Liberty Street, which the town said they would address.

Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman brought up the ‘Report It’ page on the Morristown town website.

“Feel free to report conditions, problems or situations … You can report anonymously or give us your name and contact information,” according to the town website. “If you give contact information, we will respond with the status within three business days.”