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Residents tell council ambulance speeds, motorcycle noise, sinkholes and streetlight outages erode safety
Summary
Residents at Tuesday's Palmyra Borough Council meeting complained of an ambulance reportedly traveling at high speeds past homes, loud motorcycle traffic on Main Street, recurring sinkholes and persistent streetlight outages.
Residents used two public-comment periods at Tuesday's Palmyra Borough Council meeting to raise safety and quality-of-life concerns including high-speed emergency vehicles, loud motorcycle traffic, recurring sinkholes and ongoing streetlight outages.
William Zayers, 333 East Main Street, told the council he had observed an ambulance traveling "way over our safe speed," estimating speeds of "60, 70 mile an hour" past his house and said that motorcycle groups and cars with loud mufflers are revving on Main Street, preventing residents from opening windows. "That ambulance is traveling way over our safe speed," Zayers said.
Later in public comment, William Tiggers, also of 333 East Main Street, said sinkhole conditions are worsening near Babe's and South Harrison Street and reported that he stepped into a hole "and went down into my hip," and said he filled it with a cinder block to avoid further injury. Patty Reed of East Hazel Street said she frequently sees off-premise signs stapled to signposts and asked whether the borough could remove them; borough staff said off-premise signs are not permitted and can be removed.
On the question of streetlights, council members advised residents to call the utility (identified in the meeting as "MedEd") with the seven-digit number on the light plate to report outages; staff said MedEd batches repairs and sometimes schedules work based on traffic-control availability. A councilor suggested residents continue to call the utility so outages are batched for repair.
Why it matters: the complaints touch on public safety (speeding emergency vehicles and sinkholes) and livability (noise and lighting). Councilors and staff acknowledged the concerns and outlined follow-up steps: reporting streetlights to the utility, public-works follow-up on sinkholes and road patches, and continued coordination with police and EMS providers.
What happens next: staff will pass sinkhole and road condition reports to appropriate crews; residents were advised to report individual streetlight outages using the identifying plate number to MedEd; council said it would continue to monitor noise, traffic and drainage issues raised by residents.
