Letter to the Editor: Minglewood Resident Says Engineer Agrees About Traffic

To the editor:

As I was trying to revive some burned out portions of my front lawn last Saturday, the Chief Survey Engineer of Nagel Paving (the company doing the road resurfacing in our subdivision) approached me to engage in some casual conversation about how dry and straw-like all lawns were, including his. 

After a few seconds, he immediately told me how rude the Highmeadow School drivers were to him and his fellow workers when Nagel Paving started this project in May. He said the drivers (parents of the students) were yelling at him from inside their cars and telling him should have started his work at some other area of the sub-division rather than disrupting their schedules and paths. He also said the first thing he noticed when beginning this project was the lack of access roads to Highmeadow School.  

He said he immediately went to his supervisors to tell them what an engineering nightmare this was for the subdivision. He told me when the project is completed, he knew exactly what would happen: 1) Drivers are going to speed more than ever on Minglewood. 2) With speeding, come accidents. 3) With accidents, come injuries and perhaps traffic deaths. He said this is inevitable. 

With an educated, practical, engineer using rational engineering thinking, agreeing with what the residents of Minglewood having been saying for two years, we feel redeemed, after tirelessly but fruitlessly, arguing these exact points with the power-hungry, arrogant people at Farmington Hills city hall and the Farmington School district. It is nice to know that educated professional engineers are on the same side of the argument as the Minglewood residents. 

As for me, I no longer have to put up with this insanity.  I am moving as far away as possible and rented my house to a group of motorcyclists. 

George Sarkisian
Farmington Hills