City Council persuaded to keep ‘Slow-noma’ streets

The Sonoma City Council refused to raise speed limits on local streets, as had been recommended in a joint study session with the Traffic Safety Committee on February 12. That session had focused on compliance with state law, which requires that speed limits be established at the nearest 5 mph increment to the speed at which 85 percent of observed vehicles travel.
Concerned members of the Sonoma public lined behind the lectern as passionate pleas to the Council were heard in an effort to keep in-town speed limits as they are on Fifth Street West, Fifth Street East, Denmark Street, East MacArthur Street, and Verano Avenue.
Sonoma resident Thomas Anderson quoted Gandhi by reciting, “Do nothing to increase the speed of life,” and echoed, “I say, ‘Do nothing to increase the speed of Sonoma.’”
Several alternative measures to speed increases were argued by the public. The council agreed that “traffic-calming-devices” would be a much more reasonable and prudent solution to the traffic issue here in Sonoma than raising speed limits.
“It’s kinda head scratchin’ for me,” councilman August Sebastiani said. “I can’t see raising speeds to enforce speeds that we can’t even enforce now.”
Architectural landscaping, coupled with speed bumps and banners that declare “children and elder safety zones” were among the traffic-calming-devices residents recommended.
Councilman Barbose said that he has not talked with one single person who was in favor of raising the Sonoma speed limits whatsoever and that the perception of ‘Slow-noma’ is the precise reason people like it here.
Mayor Pro Tem Joanne Sanders ended the discussion by saying that, “Our options on these traffic-calming-devices will come at budget time – that’s when we’ll put the money where our mouths are.”