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63 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, March 18, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 1, 2005 Central Point tackles road budget More discussion to follow after City Council hears business owners’ concerns about funding allocation By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Some two dozen business owners sat in on a study session Monday night to reiterate ongoing frustration over a recent $1.6 million rebuild of the Highway 99/Pine Street intersection. Straying from typical study session format in allowing public speakers, the meeting was to have allowed business owners to chime in during talks over why the intersection had caused loss of business and safety concerns for downtown merchants. City Council members did more listening than discussing. After more than two hours, the council adjourned, declining further discussion on the topic. No decision was made and no further instruction was made to city staff, but the issue will likely be revisited this month. While the city initiated talks with downtown business owners in January to discuss future improvement to the downtown, talks reverted back to work already done to the intersection. Advertisement Concerns range from medians added down the center of Pine Street and bulb-outs near traffic lanes to loss of parking and loss of a travel lanes near the intersection. Consultants from DKS Traffic Engineering and OBEC Consulting Engineers were on hand to discuss the intersection design, which city staff said business owners gave their opinions on in the late 1990s. One spokesperson said the focus of the project was to prevent traffic from navigating around lowered crossing arms and to increase operational capability and safety. Sasquatch Games owner Brian Casey, spokesperson for the Central Point Downtown Business Association which formed to have a say in downtown improvements, stuck to his guns about the intersection doing nothing to improve safety or functionality. While engineers insisted the improvements were to state traffic standards, Casey said his focus was "less on the theoretical benefits and more on what’s actually going on." Of the association, represented by 75 percent of downtown businesses, Casey said the majority were upset with work that had been done. Council member Dick Halley had concerns about putting a second round of taxpayer dollars into the project, though Flag Department owner Don Pfaff said the intersection was more functional prior to improvements. "If you found money to put it in, then you find money to take it out," Pfaff insisted. "It’s just not gonna work the way they’ve got it." Council member Kay Harrison said the council would be careful to consider the needs of the entire city rather than any one segment. "We’ve had just as many business owners telling us they like it as we have (those) that don’t," she said. "The ones that don’t are just more vocal� we have to look at the city as a whole. You can’t look at just one segment and what they want." Farber Survey owner Herb Farber was one of three business owners to speak in favor of the new intersection, saying while it was "by no means perfect," it was a "significant step toward a safer intersection." "With any improvements there are some pains in the beginning," said Farber. "If we want to be a destination, we have to change what we’ve have because right now we’re a thoroughfare. If you try to cross Pine at my office in Four Oaks, you take your life into your own hands." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s