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Residents tell council funeral processions and high-school lighting create safety and quality-of-life concerns
Summary
Two residents raised public-safety and neighborhood-quality issues during public comment: one called for restored police escorts or other protections for funeral processions after near-miss incidents; another said high-school field lights are being left on and local traffic patterns are creating problems near schools.
During the meeting's public-comment period, residents raised concerns about safety and neighborhood impacts.
Stephanie Strickland, who said she lives on Alton Court, described near-miss incidents involving funeral processions and urged the city to restore police escorts or another formal process to protect the processions en route to local cemeteries. "You definitely gonna gonna have an accident if you all don't do anything about it... You have some people that will stop, but then you have other people that that's very disrespectful and will not will not wait till their family come," Strickland said, urging the council to reinstate police assistance for at least the portion of the trip into the cemetery.
William Vohall, who identified himself as an Opelika resident near Opelika High School and Morris Avenue School, said stadium and field lights are being left on overnight and that school-area traffic is causing daily problems. He said he has raised the issue with the school principal and the board of education and asked the council to ensure better oversight of lighting and traffic management. "The traffic issue outside the school... Morris School Avenue is an issue with traffic," Vohall said, adding concern about rising costs and taxes that affect residents' financial burdens.
Council members acknowledged the comments and said staff would follow up on the procession policy and school/lighting concerns. These comments were made during the public-comment portion of the agenda and did not prompt immediate council action recorded in the minutes.
