Brentwood bills that would have limited construction traffic on eastbound Eager Road when work begins on Manhasset Village apartments, north of Brentwood Forest in Richmond Heights, failed Monday night in a board of aldermen meeting, splitting the board and the two aldermen that represent Brentwood Forest (Ward 4).
Aldermen Anthony Harper and Maureen Saunders (Ward 1), Cindy Manestar (Ward 2) and Tom Kramer (Ward 4) voted for the two bills.
Aldermen Lee Wynn (Ward 2), Keith Robertson and Andy Leahy (Ward 3) and Patrick Toohey (Ward 4) voted against the bills.
In both cases Mayor Pat Kelly broke the 4-4 tie, voting no. Kelly’s vote was no surprise.
Kramer introduced the bills. The other Ward 2 alderman, Patrick Toohey, has announced he is running for mayor in April; Brentwood Forest residents at the meeting weren’t happy with his no vote.
“If he can’t represent his constituents, how is he going to represent the whole city?” Jeannie Staples asked after the meeting.
“Our instinct is that we’ve got two aldermen representing Brentwood Forest. One of whom is for our interest and one of whom is not for our interest,” Lynn Morgan said. “It was obviously a 4-4 vote with the mayor taking over. We were just hoping the traffic could be curtailed on our streets and it didn’t pass.”
The bills would have forced large trucks and commercial traffic to take McCutcheon Road north into Richmond Heights instead of Eager Road to Brentwood Boulevard when leaving the construction site.
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A truck making a delivery, such as a UPS truck, would be allowed. Leahy said the bills were flawed because any truck going into the construction area would be making a delivery and couldn’t be stopped.
Kramer called it a nightmare when the former Manhasset Village was demolished in 2004. He said there was mud on the streets, road damage and resulting water main breaks, and Richmond Heights wasn’t very responsive in making repairs.
“The alternative to this kind of situation does not make Brentwood a bad neighbor,” he said. “I struggle to see how this would injure Richmond Heights.”
He said large trucks are prohibited from other residential streets, and Eager Road should have equal protection.
Though about six residents spoke in favor of restricting construction traffic at the meeting, Toohey said the majority of Brentwood Forest residents don’t support the bills, and “a large portion of the condo board doesn’t live in Brentwood Forest.”
Jeanie Staples and Lynn Morgan are former and current Brentwood Forest Board of Managers members. As such they know then when you serve on a board for you community sometimes you face polarizing issues in which your vote will make some constituents happy and some feeling disappointed. It is impossible to vote on a topic and make everybody happy. I am disappointed that instead of accepting that we will agree to disagree and state any flaws in my logic as they see them, they instead make personal cheap shots staying I don’t represent the best interest of Brentwood Forest. This type of behavior in Brentwood politics needs to stop so elected officials, staff and residents can have civil disagreements. It is perfectly acceptable for a residents to criticize the methodology of my decision making, it is another thing to say I don’t support the interest of the community.