I would like to address the situation on 60th Street as a resident of 60th Street, not as a politician that thinks he knows the situation.
Palm Beach County has insisted to run State Road 7 through the middle of a residential area with no regard to the safety or quality of life for the residents that live on 60th Street.
We have fought this road for years to no avail. We have been lied to, and we are sick of it. The previous county commission promised to buy our home if we were unhappy with the road. Now they refuse to do this.
The previous commission promised roundabouts and speed bumps to slow the traffic if we agreed to be a connection to the reliever road. This also has not been done. There is no regard for the safety of the residents on 60th Street. The promise to extend SR 7 to Northlake has not been done. No bridge has been built over the M Canal.
The road has been set up to make it a fast half mile from the reliever road to Royal Palm Beach Blvd., with no provisions for the safety of the homeowners, except a drainage easement to give them room to four-lane it in the future to move the traffic from Minto to the mall as quickly as possible. This is what politicians do. They make promises to get elected and do what they want when they get in office.
We have children and grandchildren and animals that will no longer be safe in their own yard. We bought this property and built for the privacy it offered, which has now been ruined.
This road should not be opened to the public until the safety issues for the residents are addressed. The police are already chasing speeders down the road, and it is open only to local traffic. What will happen when the road is open to everyone? The county needs to start construction of the bridge over the M Canal and not dump all the traffic in front of my home.
The county states the road cannot have speed bumps because it is a county road, but it is not an uninhabited road as the reliever road is. Ask [County Engineer] George Webb if his wife would like to be in our home and let her children play around this road. I bet she would not be happy about it.
We pay taxes to both the county and Indian Trail, and yet we are represented by no one. I, myself, do not know how I will get out of my driveway during rush hour as the speeders will race down the road.
We have lived here more than 30 years and have seen the population grow, and we can see how this will play out. SR 7 will never go to Northlake, and I now live on a major road with no concern for my safety, just moving the traffic. As the county has told us, they know how to deal with unhappy residents, they just ignore you.
Yes, Mr. Webb, we are happy to have a paved road. It should have been paved years ago. However, Mr. Webb, we did not buy our home on a major thoroughfare, and SR 7 is going through the middle of a residential area with no regard for our safety.
Jackie Vassallo, The Acreage
