Stoplight Report Is In, But Issue Far From Settled

As he read from a newly released report containing information about the effectiveness of the Central Avenue pedestrian activated stoplight, Mayor Andy Skibitsky emphasized the importance of not giving emotion more weight than objective data.

But at last night’s Town Council meeting, it was difficult not to.

The emotions of members of the public as well as Council members themselves ran especially high at the group’s first regular meeting since July 12. At the center of the commotion – as it has been at Council meetings for the past 11 months – was the controversial traffic light on Central Avenue near Clover Street, which sparked its usually tense discussion and nearly lead to one resident being removed from the meeting. 

Early in the meeting, Skibitsky said that he had just received a report Tuesday evening regarding the effectiveness of the stoplight. He said he received the report for the first time upon arriving at town hall Tuesday and that other members of the Council had not yet been given copies of the report. The 30-page report will be made available to the public on the town’s website as early as today, he added.

Skibitsky and Council members 150 feet to the actual intersection of Central Avenue and Clover Street, claiming they were awaiting the opportunity to review data complied about the light’s effectiveness.

In a brief summary of the report, the mayor outlined the objectives of the stoplight and offered a short assessment of how well – according to the study – the light is helping achieve those goals. For each of the three primary objectives – providing a safe crossway for pedestrians, minimizing traffic congestion for drivers, and preventing cut-through traffic on nearby side streets – Skibitsky said the report concluded the installation has worked sufficiently. 

“The numbers confirm the HAWK [signal] is well-used,” the mayor said, referring to the pedestrian activated light. Skibitsky said the report included data that was collected for about two-and-half hours per day (7:45-9 a.m. and 2:45-3:45 p.m.) for 45 days, during which at least 1,300 pedestrians used the crosswalk.

However, familiar faces approached the microphone during the public forum portion of the meeting to offer anecdotal and personal opposition to the report’s findings. The light was installed on the front lawn of resident Adina Enculescu, who claimed she recently came within three feet of hitting a group of children when leaving her driveway.

“To continue to say this is the safest location [for the light] is revolting,” Enculescu told the Council.

Enculescu’s neighbor, Maria Carluccio, has also been asking the Council to move the light to the intersection of Central and Clover Steet for nearly a year. She was skeptical of the data cited in the report Skibitsky discussed and offered additional personal stories that suggested numerous pedestrians and passer-bys have expressed to her disgust with the stoplight’s location. She also said she, while outside watering her plants, has seen many cars run red lights and come close to hitting pedestrians.

“The near-accidents we see everyday – it’s frightening,” she said. “It’s dangerous. For the hundred-millionth time, it’s dangerous.”

Carluccio offered praise for two Council members representing the third ward – David Haas and recent appointee Mark LoGrippo – and read aloud a letter she had received earlier in the year from Councilman Sam Della Ferra about the situation. She then directed her criticism back toward the mayor before rapidly reading off 67 names from a petition that had circulated in opposition to the light’s location.

“You’re ruling against the will of the people you represent,” she told the mayor.

Skibitsky clarified that not all signers of the petition are residents of Westfield and are thus not all his constituents.

The meeting intensified after resident Greg Kasko had addressed the Council for his allotted 10 minutes. Kasko, an independent challenging Councilman LoGrippo and Democrat Matt Sontz for the third ward seat, used much of his time at the microphone to address public safety issues and only touched on the stoplight issue toward the end of his discussion. After he had sat down, Skibitsky began reading again from a section of the stoplight report. Kasko urged the mayor to read the conclusion of whatever section he was reading aloud, but the mayor told Kasko that his time had expired and asked him not to interrupt him while he was talking.

Once Skibitsky continued reading, Kasko again spoke up.

“Read the conclusion,” Kasko urged the mayor. The two began to shout back and forth before Skibitsky threatened to remove Kasko from the meeting.

“Am I going to have to have you removed?” Skibitsky asked.

“I’ll remove myself,” Kasko replied, as the town hall police officer approached Kasko’s aisle. He then got up to leave the meeting.

 “You’re misleading the public,” Kasko said as he began his exit from the room. “Read the conclusion!”

Skibitsky, apparently tired of what he saw as a somewhat hypocritical pursuit by Kasko to achieve honesty and integrity, implored Kasko (a former police officer) to release to the public the reports of a certain independent hearing officer. As the mayor continued with his comments, Kasko could be heard chuckling from the lobby outside the room. Kasko clarified to the Patch that he chuckled "in disbelief and disgust that the Mayor was misleading the public and not reading the conclusion of the Warrant Analysis."

The mayor attempted to settle the crowd once Kasko had left, but his abrupt departure seemed to awaken Enculescu and Carluccio, who rose from their seats and began shouting at the mayor.

“Don’t lie to us!” Enculescu yelled at Skibitsky, holding a copy of a document in her hand.

“You’re an embarrassment to this community!” Carluccio told the mayor as she left her seat. “We’ll be back in two weeks!”

The volume and turmoil became so great that Skibitsky had to temporarily adjourn the meeting until order could be restored. Some Council members made a dash to the Council chambers, but the break lasted for only a minute or two. Upon re-opening the meeting, Skibitsky apologized for the outburst in the room that had happened moments earlier, before once again stressing to audience members of the dangers of giving emotion more weight than factual data. 

The document that was being read by Skibitsky when Kasko interrupted him was the Signal Warrant Analysis conducted by the Louis Berger Group in 2007, a report that was intended to determine whether a stoplight was necessary at the intersection of Central Avenue and Clover Street. The analysis is included as Exhibit B in the report obtained by and referred to by the mayor. 

The conclusion of the section that Kasko apparently wanted Skibitsky to read states: “Based on above analysis, School Crossing Warrant 5.0 is satisfied at Intersection of Central Avenue and Clover Street.”

Skibitsky said the report could be posted to the town website Wednesday and would definitely be posted by the end of the week.