June 11 Safety Town Hall RESCHEDULED

UPDATE FROM CINDY RASMUSSEN ON 05/16/24: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Town Hall meeting of June 11, organized by the Citizens for a Safer Jacksonville, will be postponed until sometime in July. This meeting was to be held in the City Library Community Room. We apologize for this inconvenience and will notify everyone on our mailing list of the new date and location as soon as possible. If you are NOT on the current email list, and want to be added, kindly contact me via email at oregongal@me.com and I will add you to our list of interested citizens.

Cindy Rasmussen, Citizens for a Safer Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Review – May 2024

WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS in our efforts toward creating a safer environment for our fellow citizens, pets, and wildlife! Last week, the Ad Hoc Safety Committee, which has been meeting for five months, presented our final recommendations to the City Council for their approval and implementation. The Committee has completed their work for now. Already you may have noticed the new YOUR SPEED IS signs, often being moved to various locations, to remind people of their actual speed on the street. We know that two more of these signs will be arriving soon! This has definitely improved safer speeds on many streets.

The Police Department has already implemented increased fines for parking and moving violations. These are wins for our town! We expect enforcement will improve as our Police staffing increases later this year. Also, Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) attended our February Ad Hoc committee meeting and announced GOOD NEWS that they have secured the funding to move forward with a new design and LIGHTS at the 5th and Shafer Street crosswalk which will be paid for entirely by ODOT, and the engineering study has already begun. This urgent issue is finally moving forward.

ODOT will also study the confusing changing speed limits along 5th Street entering downtown. Crosswalks will be re-painted in May (before Britt opens), as well as new traffic calming striping and painted SLOW signs on streets like S. Applegate, S. Third, and S. Oregon Street. Lastly, new quiet, portable speed humps in four strategic town locations will hopefully be approved on a trial basis.

All of these efforts have required much time and effort from our dedicated community group. I am so proud to lead this amazing team! Please remember that as of this writing this has NOT YET BEEN ACCEPTED BY OUR CITY COUNCIL, but we anticipate these recommendations will be approved in the very new future. Lastly, we are announcing a public Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, from 5-6pm, at the Naversen Room at the Jacksonville Library. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss our progress, future ideas, obtain public feedback and answer questions. We appreciate your support, and, as always, welcome your ideas and input. Please feel free to contact me at oregongal@me.com.

Cindy Rasmussen, Citizens for a Safer Jacksonville