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City Council Meeting Minutes July 7, 2020 motorist slammed into it and caused a two -car pile-up: (Honestly, how much more evidence is needed here?) Yet as the situation on San Antonio worsens, Belvin Street has effectively become a private drive. In fact, a San Marcos resident was recently ticketed while driving on Belvin simply because he does not live on the street and was not visiting a Belvin St. resident. Why is the city spending resources preventing the rare motorist from driving down an otherwise public street? And where are the SMPD officers ticketing those motorists who simply drive past the barricade at San Antonio and Hunter and instead enter San Antonio from Olive and Pitt Streets? For every motorist nabbed on Belvin, you could stop hundreds on San Antonio. Belvin Street residents have been quick to argue that they've had to absorb local bus traffic from Hopkins. But let's put this in perspective: According to the CARTS bus schedule, only 11 buses travel Belvin daily. That's 11 total vehicle trips in 24 hours. On Friday, we randomly walked out to our front porch to time how long it would take for 11 vehicles to pass our house on San Antonio. The result: 1 minute, 15 seconds. And it wasn't even that busy. We commend our friends on Belvin for their organized and effective lobbying efforts, but the time has come for the city to recognize that San Antonio is also a residential street. In fact, San Antonio is home to more families, more families with children, and a larger collective property tax base. And it experiences more pedestrian and bicycle traffic, which only adds to the potential danger this traffic poses. Please consider more equitable changes to your traffic rerouting plan. We know the traffic has to go somewhere, and we're willing to shoulder our share. San Antonio Street seems a natural for taking inbound detour traffic, and Belvin is the natural choice for outbound traffic. Large trucks can be detoured to Craddock via signage to avoid huge vehicles rolling down either street. Finally, in addition to (but not instead of) rerouting, please consider installing a few speed limit policing signs along any residential street having to accept detour traffic. We know these works for us, and we're sure we're not alone. Thanks for your service. This isn't fun, we know. But the families who live along San Antonio Street need some relief—and a more equitable approach to detour traffic. Randy Polk: Since the start of the current construction on Hopkins St our quiet street, that is a favorite route used by many bicyclists and pedestrians, has become a major vehicle thoroughfare. Despite NOT being an official detour route, San Antonio St. has become more and more busy since the start of the Hopkins construction. Few vehicles adhere to the 30 mile an hour speed limit. Stop signs are cause for 4 and 5 car backups. And since it's a residential street, parked cars cause further backups with vehicles trying to squeeze by with City of San Marcos Page 7