It has been reported that the city plans to install a stop sign on Elm Street at the intersection of Henshaw Avenue for safety reasons. If this is the first step to a better solution, fine. If not, it is a poor decision but perhaps the best you might expect from a City Council that approved buying a building, assessed for $1.2 million, for $3.1 million.

Traffic on Elm Street is bad enough without having to stop unnecessarily. Having to stop when there is no one waiting to cross is counter productive to traffic flow and ecologically unsound for the climate, as you create unnecessary stationary emissions. A better solution would be to install crossing signals similar to those in front of John M. Greene Hall. They could even be solar powered.

Now, as I said, if the stop sign is just a temporary, short term, [very short] first step then all can ignore my comment otherwise it is a very poor solution to an important problem.

Eric Stahlberg

Florence