The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].

Question:

Dear Mayor,

Thank you for keeping Lakewood such a nice town!! We appreciate your hard work and commitment!! I live on private way. Behind us is a complex of houses. Every Monday between 4:45 and 5 am the garbage trucks roll in to do their pick up at the complex. Thats when the trouble starts. The noise level is not acceptable!! The drivers yell between one another and the trucks make an abundance of noise. So at 5 am my whole family wakes up! It is no fun having to start your day at 5am with cranky children due to the garbage! I have tried to call the LDPW a couple times but nothing has helped. We dread Mondays. I understand that it is easier to do the pickup when there are no cars coming in and out. However it can be done mid day when most people are out working.

I know you will take this matter seriously as you do with everything else. I appreciate your drive to improve and help our community!
Thank you

Response from Mayor Coles:

I will discuss this with the Public Works director and see what we can do to minimize any disturbances

Ray

————————–

Question:

Hi, thank you for everything you do for the town. Just wanted to know when will the traffic light on river avenue between Broadway and chateau Park be put up.

Response from Mayor Coles:

We have asked the state and the contractor to give us a time frame for completion. We will post the information as soon as we get it.

————————-

Question:

Thanks for all you do. I am a resident of one of the streets off of Central Ave. I am aware that Central Ave is a county road and therefore the township is limited in what can be done to alleviate the traffic.

With that being said, I am sure that with advocacy much can be done to help with this ongoing issue.

If you drive on Central Avenue Eastbound in the morning you’ll see a pile up of cars sitting on the shoulder and many other cars trying to force their way in from the side streets which cause those of us on Central Ave not to be able to move forward.

I have an idea of something that I feel would significantly help the issue and am wondering if it has been considered:

Why can’t the Ave be a two lane street from Sunset to Route 9 which is where most of the congestion is and it would be a proper legal two lane street with one lane turning left and the other going straight or right after the Route 9 intersection.

In addition, if the turning signal at Route 9 would have both the green light and arrow simultaneously for Central Ave and then again for Hurley it would allow for the whole congestion to clear and the cars to move forward. Currently, only some cars are moving when there is a turning light and the other cars are still stuck so there is no clearing and many of the vehicles that wish to turn left can’t do so since they are stuck behind the others that are waiting.

I know it is assumed that this traffic is just here to stay but I feel based on doing this drive every single morning and observing the traffic patterns that this would really make a huge difference.

Looking forward to a response!

Response from Mayor Coles:

Some of the best solutions come from the folks who live these situations every day. I will include this in our discussion with the county commissioners & engineering department when we meet early next year.

————————–

Question:

Hi,

I live off Drake Road and there is a cul de sac that is in middle of doing their site improvements. There have been constant intermittent closures over the past few months and it is really inconveniencing all the residents. School buses, commuters and more are forced to detour to the already over crowded Cross Street. Is there anything to do about this? Does the construction of 5-6 houses warrant aggravation on everyone else’s part?

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good afternoon

We always try to schedule work like this at off Horus and times. I spoke with Deputy Mayor Miller, who reminded me that some contractors work on Saturday. We will attempt to have some work like this moved to Saturday’s. Committeeman Lichtenstein said he will work with the police department to minimize the disruption to traffic.

Thanks

Ray

—————–

Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]

Have a question for the Chief? Send it to [email protected]