The Mayor and City Commission discussed this item, which was ultimately referred to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee, at the December 13, 2023 City Commission meeting.
However, as a densely populated urban area that hosts throngs of visitors each day, extreme demand is consistently placed upon the City’s infrastructure, including its beaches, parks, roadways, and sidewalks. In particular, the City streets are often heavily congested due to the enormous number of cars, buses, trolleys, scooters (sit-down and stand-up), autocycles, mopeds, pedestrians, bicyclists, and Segways all sharing the City streets. Public safety is of the utmost importance in the City, and drivers who speed, or engage in reckless or careless driving, unnecessarily endanger many lives (including their own). Moreover, many residents continue to complain about motor vehicle drivers who speed, weave in and out of traffic, run red lights, do doughnuts, and sometimes even go the wrong way on streets.
Accordingly, I would like to have a follow-up discussion and request that the City Manager and the Police Department be prepared to discuss any modification(s) to the City’s plan to address and enforce these driving violations including, but not limited to: any additional enforcement after 8:00 p.m.; any enhanced enforcement along Alton Road, Collins Ave, South of Fifth, and in North Beach; any assistance received from the Florida Highway Patrol or the Florida Department of Transportation in addressing these issues; and any progress the Police Department has made with regard to hiring additional traffic enforcement officers so that my colleagues and I may take any appropriate action.