Adding a Stop Sign at an Intersection in My Neighborhood This political action memo explains that I want the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood. Then it provides five political actions I can take to get the speed limit lowered on my residential street. First, I will explain why the speed limit should be reduced and how it will benefit my neighborhood's safety concerns. Then I will explain both the positives and negatives of the five political actions I could take: making a phone call to my city council member, completing a Traffic Service Request form, sending an e-mail to my state legislature, attending a city council meeting, or creating a petition. Finally, this political action memo concludes that sending an e-mail to the Transportation …show more content…
Department of Bellevue would be most effective in slowing traffic on my neighborhood street. Background on Reducing the Speed Limit on My Street The speed limit on my neighborhood street is too high for the safety of the children and residents that live within my community. The neighborhood is directly across from an elementary school, which means children are usually walking home from school during the week. Children lives are put at risk when the car’s speed through the residential streets. The speed limit in the neighborhood is twenty-five miles per hour, which is the same as the main road outside of the neighborhood. A lot of the car’s that pass through the neighborhood in the mornings and evenings are cutting through for a quicker way to get onto the main road by the freeway. Since the speed limit is twenty-five, many vehicles find it acceptable to drive five over, resulting in the car’s speeding through the residential streets going almost over thirty miles per hour. One reason I think vehicles speed through my neighborhood is because cops do not pass through our community to enforce the speed. However, it would be a lot more effective for the safety of the local residents if the speed limit was lowered to twenty miles per hour. There are five ways I could get a new speed limit enforced in my neighborhood, which I discuss in this political action memo. Phone Call to My City Council Member One political action I could take to get the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood would be to make a make a phone call to Mayor Claudia Balducci.
According to the City of Bellevue website, “Balducci represents Bellevue on regional transportation issues”. It would be effective to contact her because she would be able to take action and help in reducing the speed limit on my neighborhood street. However, there are many pros and cons when directly calling a local city council member. The good thing about making a phone call is that a citizen would be able to directly call someone who makes decisions and then talking to them personally. It allows people to discuss and articulate on the political action that would like to be made. Making a phone call also allows for a more meaningful conversation that can come off a lot more clearly. It allows for immediate feedback and the conversation is also relatively private between you and your legislature. However, as Carroll states “often times legislators are not in their office due to other obligations” so it can be hard to directly contact them. It may result in one having to leave a voice message and at that point, the message might not get across as clear. Since legislators are so busy with other tasks, sometimes the line might be busy and your call might not get through. Ultimately, the message may get lost along with all the other voicemails from citizens that the legislators are
receiving. Handwriting a Letter to My District Legislature Another political action I could take to get the speed limit reduced on my street would be to handwrite a letter to my district legislature, Matt Shea. Writing a letter gives a personal touch and makes you stand out because not many people do it anymore. It can come off and show that you strongly care about the topic you are writing about if you spend a lot of time on it by making it a decent length. Writing a letter also accounts as a reference and a physical document that district legislators can reference back to when reading the concern, a citizen might have. However, writing a letter can be very time consuming compared to a phone call. It also sometimes can be a lot harder to get a response in a decent amount of time. This is because it makes it harder for the district legislator to respond if they need to clarify; it can be a lot of back and forth action between you and the legislature. Writing a letter is also not as attention grabbing as say a protest might be. Additionally, there is an expense that comes along with handwriting letter. Having to constantly purchase stamps can sometimes become a hassle. Send an E-mail to the Transportation Department of Bellevue Another political action I could take to get the speed limit reduced on my street would be to send an e-mail to the Transportation Department of Bellevue. I could contact the head person of Transportation Department of Bellevue, Linda Glas and ask her to enforce a new speed limit in my neighborhood. However, there are many pros and cons that come along with sending an e-mail to state legislatures. The good thing about sending an e-mail is that it is very easy and they are free to send. Unlike handwritten letter, you do not have to pay for a stamp, but rather you can use your cell phone from any location to send an e-mail. In addition, e-mail allows you to send attachments, such as “relevant documents to accompany your inquiry”. E-mails can be sent during any time of the day, whereas with phone calls, legislators are only available during certain hours of the day. Carrol states “the downside to [sending an] e-mail, however, … they can get caught in a spam filter”. This may result in your message never being read at all, or you may have to wait a long time for a reply. So if the message is urgent, it might be more effective to make a phone call instead. Attend a City Council Meeting One political action I could take to get the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood would be to attend a city council meeting. I could voice my opinion about the speed limit on my residential street in hopes of reducing the speed limit. City council meetings are a great way to voice your opinion in front of a large group of people, meaning you are more likely to be heard. It is an act of civic engagement, and politically, this could be an effective way to get something done. Create a Petition One political action I could take to get the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood would be to create a petition. I could go door to door and get a large amount of my neighbors to sign a petition that says we would like the speed limit reduced in our neighborhood. This could be an effective way to get the attention of my legislators. It would show a lot of effort and a strong signal that the people in my neighborhood do care about the safety of the children and residents. A large amount of signatures could convey a message to the district legislatures that it is important and affects a lot of people. It is a visual that can get a lot of people involved because it is so simple as a signature. However, some residents do not answer the door to strangers because they feel that it is a waste of time, this could result in not enough signatures. Conclusion Sending an e-mail, the head person of Transportation Department of Bellevue, Linda Glas, making a phone call to my city council member, or attending a city council meeting would be the most effective political actions I could take. I sent an e-mail to Linda Glas in hopes of getting the speed limit in my neighborhood reduced. The email stated the purpose of the email and clearly explained what I was asking for.
There are three way to contact the mayor. The first way is to call his phone number at 440-526-4044. The second way is to call his fax number at 440-526-4044. The third way is to email him at
Several surveys have shown the city of Miami to be one of the least preferable cities in which to drive. Every morning there is an exodus of Biblical proportions, as thousands or cars tightly pack into highways six lanes wide. More discouraging about driving in Miami is the mind-numbingly slow pace with which traffic moves. Moreover, bumper-to-bumper traffic causes many minimal damage accidents that ironically have larger, more negative, effects on traffic congestion than they actually should. Other factors such as construction and aggressive drivers create more hazardous conditions for commuters. The roads and highways of Miami are a world of danger that creates the unpleasant experience it is to drive in Miami.
With the introduction of the automobile in the early 1900s, laws have been instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their agenda in front of the well being of others. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. billions of dollars have been spent, and pollution has grown exponentially because of this. drivers travelling at high speeds on roads (Hartman).
The Constitution of California expects legislators, which includes both State’s senate and House of Representatives, to influence agency decision making, to build political support for increases or decreases in agency funding to lay the political foundation for new programs and policies, and to capture media attention and enhance the power of the California State Congress members. However, not all legislators are able to fulfill their duties and comply with the state’s expectations. Indeed, their efficacy to serve California varies on the length of their experience, familiarity to government system, and commitment to public service. Evaluating their performances for the past ten years, legislators can be distinguished by their competence and efficiency. In this paper, I argue that to be an outstanding legislator, it is necessary for politicians to satisfy both constituents’ and partisan’s interests, and to have strong ability to facilitate bargaining and compromise within the state congress.
Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to Queensland for years. For many years? police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathe testing and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so Queensland Transport has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the transport department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media. Their safe driving campaign is now using effective propaganda aimed directly at speeding; drink driving and tired and reckless driving
In the state of Georgia, a point system helps to track drivers who are incompetent or have the bad habit of driving irresponsibly. For every violation of the traffic laws, a driver can receive points on their license. After 15 points in a 24-hour period, that driver's license can be suspended. If more serious problems occur in that period, which adds point on your license in Georgia, your license can be revoked or canceled. If you're wondering what to do after you get a speeding ticket in Atlanta, an attorney can help.
...believe that the state should consider putting more money into repairing roads, both gravel and highway, so they are useable. Many of the people who do not live in town and use the gravel roads everyday could benefit tremendously from this.
Because of how our government functions, we as the people of the country have the ability to participate in not only small state-wide political office but affect national decisions. One example of the common citizen sparking change on a national level is with the Yosemite National Park Educational System. Children of park rangers, only able to attend the small school within the park’s borders, lacked sufficient funds to maintain the school. Rather than performing acts of civil disobedience and protesting for government change, the educators at the school brought their issue to Congress. In Senate Report 108-255, Mr. Domenici, a member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, proposed that the State of California
It is 8:45 and Paul has just gotten on the interstate to make his normal commute to Longview from Tyler. About halfway there, Paul notices a state trooper right behind him. He frantically checks his speed! Too late!!!!!! The state trooper turns on his lights. Not only was Paul speeding, but now he will be late to a very important meeting at work.
One of the major themes throughout this book is the need for more collaboration, coalitions, and alliances at the regional level dealing with major political, economic, social, and environmental problems our metropolitan regions face. One example the book provides for increasing collaboration between regional actors is to create a dialogue to establish “mutual understanding through a process that suspends judgment, reveals assumptions on both sides, and includes diverse perspectives..” A dialogue replaces the inefficient process of debate with a collaborative one that builds trusts and helps to reconcile difference between seemingly competing interests. In San Diego for example, in the 1980’s civic leaders had UCSD set up an organization to spell out all the regions problems and bring the community together to help work at solving the region’s challenges. The San Diego dialogue was noted for helping to build connections that broke down borders between different groups and the shift in focus from individual grievances to community solutions.
Moreover, not only did I not comply with the speed limit, I did not obey my
Should highway speed limits be increased? Should we strike down every sign that the government posts and uses to regulate the speed limit on the thousands of highways around the country? Should we trust the driving ability of each and every person to drive within a reasonably safe speed? The response that most people lean toward is one of negativity. People automatically assume that the speeds presently posted on our highways are there only for our own protection.
Our neighborhoods need control of speed, too. Accidents not only happen on the highway, but also on residential streets, with the speed limits being 25 mph. Motorists are exceeding these limits as I speak. They would be unable to stop quickly enough for pedestrians, possibly swerving out of control and hitting a house or another car. My street has been monitored, by the city, due to this excessive speeding. The city of St. Clair Shores is trying to make the motorists aware of their speeding by posting a digital sign, which posts their current speed. Without a legal speed limit in residential areas, people would drive in excess of 25 mph all the time. We need this wild speeding controlled soon before something bad happens.
Unlike many other forms of government rule, democracy does not discriminate against political affiliation or ideology. My personal experiences with constituents on the phone, both for and against various bills in the State Assembly, underline how highly involved and engaged the demos are in local political affairs. Constituents, as a collective, have the power and will to affect the passage or denial of a bill in the Senate or Assembly simply by voicing their opinion as a group. Personalized e-mails and letters to the Assemblyman on issues ranging from animal rights to after-school programs are examples of the democratic process working in conjunction with majority consent. Democracy permits citizens to voice their opinions and offer concern or support for legislation. In addition, constituents will voice their concerns or co...
“Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional deaths for teens (16-17),” reported The New York State Department of Health. The most exciting thing about being sixteen in the United States is driving. Teenagers can not wait to be sixteen to drive, however, they do not understand the dangers that come with driving at such a young age. Sixteen is the age between child life and adulthood. It is a time when they are not stable and undergoing change, which makes them unsuitable to drive. Many teenagers would say that they need to get to places. In response to that claim, there are public transportation systems and bikes as available alternatives for young drivers. The financial stability and matureness of eighteen year olds proves