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Black Mountain council weighs South Ridgeway one-way plan amid business, safety and enforcement disputes
Summary
Residents and business owners urged action on pedestrian safety on South Ridgeway Avenue while others warned a one-way conversion would shift congestion and harm small businesses; council discussed alternatives and moved to decline the one-way resolution after debate.
Black Mountain Town Council discussed a staff proposal to convert part of South Ridgeway Avenue and Southern Avenue to one-way traffic and create a pedestrian path, drawing more than an hour of public comment from residents and business owners who alternately urged immediate safety measures and warned the change would shift traffic and harm local businesses.
The proposal, presented as a short-term response to what staff described as “a life health safety issue,” prompted repeated calls for sidewalks, crosswalks and less intrusive fixes. Mayor Michael Sogel read public comment and council members and staff repeatedly emphasized that sidewalks remained the long-term goal while the one-way proposal was intended as an interim solution.
The debate focused on competing priorities: immediate pedestrian safety versus longer-term infrastructure and business impacts. Sydney Joyner, who lives at 120 South Ridgeway Avenue, told the council South Ridgeway is “incredibly unsafe for pedestrians”…
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