From the Eagle Tribune;
Atkinson seeks state help with renumbering problem
By Eric Parry
eparry@eagletribune.com
ATKINSON — Town officials have requested the state's help in renumbering a few streets in town.
Selectman Bill Friel said the town has asked the state Department of Safety's Emergency Management Bureau to help renumber Coventry and Washington roads.
Some residents on those streets say they fear fire and police officials won't be able to find their homes in an emergency because they have letters as well as numbers.
The issue was raised by residents a year ago. Since then, selectmen have been trying to come up with a solution.
Friel said they would like to have the state look at the whole town, but there is a waiting list 16 towns long before state officials can visit Atkinson and make a recommendation. Friel has asked the state to investigate Coventry and Washington immediately, but said he hasn't heard when that might be done.
When state officials review the street numbering, they drive around town looking at tax maps and recording GPS coordinates for properties.
"They go to every parcel in town," Friel said.
They can visit up to 300 properties a day and Atkinson has about 3,000 properties that would be reviewed, he said.
This service would be provided at no cost to the town, Friel said.
Fire Chief Mike Murphy said last week he supports renumbering Coventry and Washington roads.
"Those could be solved with little impact," Murphy said.
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36 comments:
We really need the state to get involved to tell us how to renumber 2 streets?
Umm, how about take the letters away and then renumber again?
What am I missing here?
You are missing that it will piss people off, and our selectmen would rather be able to say the state made them do it, then anger people in town by doing the right thing.
Also Frank Polito sent flyers to all of coventry road, about how it shouldn't be renumbered no matter who wanted it, he even spoke about it in a meeting. He IS the expert, he googled it!
Shouldn't the street be numbered from the other end? then all the numbers will change left to right. Got to start on the end closest to the emergency services.
March 7, 12:38 said
"Frank Polito sent flyers to all of Coventry Road"
Can you prove that he did that or is this just another of your conspiracy theories like so many we read about here on the blog? I think you would be well advised to get your facts straight before you make such public accusations. In litigious Atkinson, you could find yourself in court accused of making slanderous statements. I suspect the Town’s insurance policy won’t be providing you with coverage.
BTW, can you please tell us at what meeting and when Mr. Polito spoke about house numbering? Can you tell us why we should care what Mr. Polito did or didn’t say about house numbering? Can you tell us why you appear to have an axe to grind with him?
Maybe you can explain to us how one of your neighbors sending an anonymous flyer to the neighborhood, expressing an opinion on house numbering, is BAD while you making a false accusation about Mr. Polito anonymously on the blog is GOOD? Are you saying you have a right to free speech and your neighbors don’t?
I think you ought to look in the mirror. “Me thinks” you are a hypocrite, like so many others here on the blog.
JMHO
Sorry Frank
poor baby
11:15 and 11:16 - Instead of having a well thought out argument for why you disagree with 10:18’s post, you attack the person not the idea and you assume you know wrote the 10:18 post. Thanks for providing an excellent illustration of the point of 10:18's post.
jMho
Got to add Maple and Sawyer to the problem list.
Here we go again. Let's make discussion about anything but the facts of the matter so we can attack people and distract from the issue.
The issue is ambulances are going to the wrong address in town. I saw discussion on Channel 20 at a Selectman meeting. There were two more cases where ambulance went to the wrong address in 2009 in town. It creates a life safety issue and it creates a liability for the town. Fire Chief Murphy is pushing to get it fixed. Liability is created through some case named after the twon of Swanzey. It set a precendent making towns liable of they know about a public safety problem and don't fix it.
I googled and found an article in the Union Leader talks about why the town of Londonderry is renaming and renumbering 50 streets, reposted here -
http://www.londonderrynh.net/?p=14026
The Selectmen have a major liability issue for the town they have to deal with. That's the problem. Londonderry is taking it seriously. I don't want my property taxes going up if the town can get sued over it. Just fix the addresses. We have too many lawsuits already.
Frank, please put up another long amalgom about what is wrong with the blog here. I don't mean to be critical but the short pissy posts just don't do the job. We need the long ones.
I'd think a smart guy like Frank would know all about this "Swanzey" case since he knows everything else about RSAs and case law.
I read the Londonderry story and it quotes their 911 coordinator for the fire dept as saying:
The council was first approached by Jim Bilodeau, 911 coordinator for the Londonderry Fire Department earlier this year. The town is obligated to make the changes following the 1995 Swanzey case in Cheshire County Court, Bliodeau said, where confusion over three Grove Streets led to a delayed 911 response and ultimately a fatality, Bliodeau said. Swanzey was found liable in the ensuing lawsuit because the street name issue had been brought forward ahead of time.
Frank, enlighten us please. Is it true the town can get sued? If so why wouldn't the selectmen just fix the problem before we have an emergency response mistake someone gets hurt so we end up getting sued again? I'm tired of all the lawsuits just as much as you are.
(Read best if spoken with an English accent of the snobby variety)
Thank you for recognizing my intellect. I'd like to set the record straight by saying I did not send out flyers to Coventry Road. That was done by an anonymous person or persons who claimed to be the "Committee to Keep our Addresses the Same". I slander anonymous postings on the blog as being gutless and therefore must be consistent in slandering anonymous mailings as being gutless as well. At least I'm consistent. Besides, anyone who saw the anonymous mailing on Coventry would immediately recognize that a person of my intelligence would never pen such an amatuerish piece of trash. I am far too articulate to send out something with a single intent of riling up an angry mob. No, I would have included information to ensure the angry mob was armed with half-truths and specious statements to make great show at town meeting, but would of course never hold up in court. In any case, the town wouldn't reimburse me for the postage so it definitely didn't come from me.
At least Carol Grant has the guts to sign her name to her documents. But I digress.
The Swanzey case you refer to has been around for some time. I'm quite familiar with it. In fact I drove through Swanzey once. Quaint little town. I kept getting lost though because their street names were so damned confusing.
I went through my extensive files and retrieved this little nugget on Swanzey. It was filed under "Comedy & Entertainment":
“In this case the Board made a decision to review the safety concerns regarding street names. The Board was then under an obligation to correct any dangerous situations. Therefore, any act undertaken by the Board pursuant to a decision to the review of the safety of the Street names is ministerial and not subject to immunity. The town had a statutory duty to take action once it is was made aware of public safety concerns.”
So you see boys and girls, it was all created by some pain in the a--residents who cried chicken little and when somebody died because the selectmen failed to fix the street address problem, they actually had the gall to sue Swanzey! Once again it is the residents' fault and not the town's! (applause)
I completely disagree with the Swanzey findings that basically say "The court finds the doctrine of governmental immunity does not apply because the action complained of was not a discretionary function but instead a statutory duty".
I firmly believe the judge is wrong and I am right. The town obviously agreed with me on the original addressing issue on Coventry which just proves my case.
So I say we let them eat cake and sue. What are the chances we'll have an emergency response accident in Atkinson? It must be like a billion to one. Even so, we always win in court, or at least settle the matter anyway. Maybe our liability insurance premiums go up. Big deal. Its not that big of a tax increase. Besides, you people can afford it.
Signed,
Pseudo F
The above parody is not intended to depict anyone real or any real circumstances and if it possibly does sound like someone you know its pure coincidence.
I live on a farly new street and everyone is always cofused about the numbering because the house at the very end does not have the highest house number. His house is on the end and has an odd number. There are more houses on the right so it appears wrong. I have to ask who assigns these numbers because when you are standing there in the street, the numbering looks wrong. It is an ongoing problem with mail and other deliveries so it would also present a problem in an emergency.
Well done sire.
The selectmen have been depicted at times here, fairly or unfairly, as "nutless". Now, let's examine this charge in the light of this issue.
There have been instances of ambulances going to the wrong house; the fire chief is concerned and has supported changing the numbering for this reason. Pretty clearcut issue so far, the numbering needs to be changed to protect the town from liability in the future from a mistake.
BUT, some residents have become vocal resisting change because of the admittedly major inconvenience. Hmm, that makes it tricky politically. It seems that leadership is in order here...
Well, it seems like the selectmen are trying to get the state to handle the controversy, though it seems this is only to shift the blame on what seems to be an inevitable outcome.
Is this another example of our town leaders avoiding doing the right thing, as some have alledged happened with the lack of management of a police chief that has cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuit judgements and legal fees while mocking the power that selectmen supposedly have over him? Or have I read this issue incorrectly, and misreading the intent of the sectmen here?
Nutless or not? YOU MAKE THE CALL!
(new article submission request)
Drop a dime on TRSD
I will post this on several sites, starting with SoD.
About a month ago, when I was away on vacation, there was a lot of noise about the TRSD budget and whether or not a legal hearing was held without a quorum of the TRSD budget committee.
Well there might be something to that. Here's an article from the Concord Monitor about a similar situation in the town of Hillsborough:
click here
Here is Don Borror's phone number and email if anybody would care to contact him:
(603) 271-3397
dborror@rev.state.nh.us
If this doesn't prove the CON-sentino form of government in Atkinson ISN'T going on across this STATE, I'LL miss my guess.
Phil CON-sentino and all those that support him HAVE TO GO!
jmho
Ed Naile said:
Re-naming streets and houses is at the same time the easiest and the hardest thing selectmen can do - in the name of public safety.
As a selectman who renumbered our town for 911 I can attest to how difficult it is to change the names of streets and numbers so they are not confusing in a real emergency. Some towns have problems with discontinued portions of streets or streets with similar sounding names. In Deering we tried to make sure we did not conflict with Hillsboro, a town we share a zip code with.
But you do have, as a town, a responsibility to make sure known problems are addressed. The Swanzey Case is an example of a town being held liable for failing to address the address problem. After someone is kiled or hurt it all looks like it would have been simple to find a way around some people not wanting a number or name changed.
I never heard of any Swanzey case. I don't see a connection to Atkinson. I dont want my house renumbered. Its a big hassle over something residents put up with for years. Why change anything now? don't get me wrong. I'm not completely insensitive. I don't like hearing stories about ambulances going to wrong addresses. I'd like to know what other towns are doing.
Hey I saw Mark Accardhet pulle dover after voting this morning, anybody know what they nailed him for now?
They just like lawsuits, that's all.
i don't see the big problem here.
isn't this the case where that lady's 14year old wouldn't be able to remember her new street number?
i think her name was barry and lived on coventry? think about the kids here, they are confused enough. they should just put a big flare in the event of a problem. leave us out of it, this is bulls__t!
rtyher
I want to clear up this budding controversy, and quiet the conspiracy theorists. Officer Van Hirtum and Officer Mullen were polite and professional, and did their jobs superlatively this morning. They pulled me over because my inspection sticker is clear, meaning they couldn't do the smog check because of a check engine light. Unfortunately the problem is electrical, and does not seem to be going away no matter how many parts I replace. They were well within their rights to pull me over, and there is no persecution going on here.
Thank you for the support though. Have a nice day.
That woman from Coventry her child may have a learning disability so you leave her alone. Picking on children now? What next?
hey, I was in support of that poor child's learning problem {if she has one} and I clearly DONT want my number changed because of a few mix ups with ambulances. they could always move if they don't like their number. it should not become my problem!
why doesn't the town or the homeowner invest in a large enough, well lit sign for their front lawn to indicate the house number until this is settled? solar powered, in orange?
the numbers are too confusing, so
a large sign such as the one at mortgage specialists would be more appropriate. the electric bill will
probably be a shocker though. that should do the trick!
What childs learning disability, what are you guys talking about?
There's no child with a learning disability in the story. They're poking fun at a Coventry resident who didn't want her address changed because she said her kid wouldn't remember the new address number if she had to call 911. It was on ACTV. People move all the time and change addresses so imagine millions of kids across America with the problem. What a weak case to resist address changes. Her story was funny. If her kid calls from a land line the 911 operator can see your address even if you say I'm calling from Maple Ave, the 911 operator knows where you're calling from on her display. Like I said it was funny. I'm glad she's not my neighbor.
I recently drove down coventry rd and noticed a few houses that had poorly visible or hardly visible numbers on their mail-box or house. If you are the one with a problem or are concerned, why not do what other Atkinson residents do and be redundant in your numbering. Put reflective numbers on the house, the mail-box and on a sign in the yard to MAKE sure the fire/police find YOU in an emergency. The other alternatives not only make the current selectmen look like fools that can not make a decision but is very selfish to the other 50-75 residents that might not want to change their mailing address, etc.
Your lack of understanding of the law, the facts and e911 addressing standards makes you look like an uneducated fool. Get your facts straight. Idiots like you think reflective numbers are the solution.
Selfish? Your the one that's selfish. You only care about yourself and don't care if people get hurt or the town gets sued because of it. I'm glad I don't live in your neighborhood. I talked to my neighbors about the issue and I find people beyond your street understand the need for clear address names and numbers. Maybe you should do some homework and learn before you open your mouth and prove you are a dolt.
I just read the (3/20/2010) comment by some fool that obviously is a friend of the person on Coventry that is the sole instigator of the Coventry numbering controversy. This person not only has anger problems but is a jackass. And I agree with the prior ATK citizens that the one person that is trying to force the other 50-75 residents to change their address is selfish. And why has this selfish residnet NOT put additional signage posting his property? If this was really a safety issue then why not put additional #.. house numbers on their property to direct the ATK PD & AKT FD? Sounds selfish to me..
how about that po po family on the road that has seen an ambulance go to the wrong address TWICE in the last year. what selfish self-centered people they must be to want me to change my FRICKIN adress
just because on a little mix-up TWICE in one year. unbelievable they could be so selfish. and those people on coventry with learnin problems, LEAVE THEM ALONE.
they can't remember the ########'s.
{maybe early onset alzheimers}
thank god I don't live on the road that the high and mighty people live on that will have all their numbers changed... that would really suck!
are there really 70 houses on coventry??
sounds like a pig squealin wolf to me.
wee wee wee i mean wolfy wolfy wolfy
LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL
wow... who is writing on these pages? The March 22 post is from a madman or a physco. Im so glad that the mentally challenged are not discriminated against ... clearly this person needs counselling. I feel sorry for you and your disability.
Some residents on Coventry Road live in a bubble. You should secede from Atkinson. Its shortsighted to think its only your street and its narrow minded to call it an inconvenience.
I live on Pope Road and we have a street accessed by Main St and West Side Dr but isn't connected in the middle. I learned an ambulance went to the wrong address on Pope in Dec. I never really thought of it. I realized if an ambulance goes to the wrong end of Pope its a 10 minute delay at least.
I see the problem all over town. I asked a lawyer friend about the Swanzey case. He said our town's liable if they don't fix safety problems they're aware of. Quit whining about an inconvenience. Whoever raised the problem is right. Get over it.
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