from the....... President's Desk

March 24, 2000 -- As all too many of you know, traffic is the dominant theme regarding the quality of life in the Palisades.
While we have significant concerns about zoning, schools, taxes and aircraft noise, traffic volume and traffic control are without question the issues that concern most of our members most of the time.
So for our April general membership meeting we are returning to the issue of traffic, this time with the participation of our local police force.
Charles Ramsey, the District Chief of Police, has instituted a new program for the police and the community, called "Partnerships for Problem Solving."
The purpose of the program is to get the police and the community working together to solve local crime issues. It is based on the basic building blocks of community policing - partnerships with the community, problem solving and information sharing.
At the April meeting, the police officers responsible for policing our neighborhood will meet with Palisades residents in small groups, led by members of the traffic committee, to hear their concerns about crime in the neighborhood.
I would urge you to come, especially if you are concerned about traffic, because this will be your opportunity to speak with the people who are immediately responsible for enforcing traffic regulations. They need to hear where you think problems exist and how those problems should be addressed.
In addition to our meeting on traffic, the PCA Board has passed the following resolution for the general membership to vote on at the April meeting:
"Be it resolved that the Palisades Citizens Association urges the District Department of Public Works to immediately conduct a traffic mitigation study for the Palisades which explores all local traffic concerns and which makes concrete proposals to reduce traffic volume and velocity on our neighborhood streets. This should be accomplished in active partnership with the Palisades community."
The Board feels that many of the issues that we have had to deal with this year should be addressed by DPW in a comprehensive and thoughtful way and not by the PCA reacting to individual situations as they occur.
Finally, I want to tell you that the PCA Board is considering hiring a part-time executive assistant to assist with the many tasks that have become a regular part of the President's job.
The job of being President has become simply too time consuming for a volunteer to do on a regular basis.
So I hope that by the end of the spring that we will have hired someone to help the PCA accomplish its goal of continuing to make the Palisades the best place to live in the District.
--Cary Ridder