Neighbors complain of speeders

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

GIRARD

People who live on Beechwood Drive in Girard told city council Monday that they’re tired of drivers speeding on their street.

They asked for more police patrols.

“I’ve been battling this problem for 10 years,” said resident Jeff Rogers. “We had a car a couple of weeks ago that ended up in my neighbor’s front yard.

“The kid admitted, ‘I was driving way too fast,’” Rogers said.

The driver was looking at his phone and hit a pothole, he said.

He said he clocked another driver going 57 mph.

“What does it take to get you to do something?” Rogers asked the council. “Somebody is going to get killed. This is ridiculous, people.”

Neighbor Chuck Herring said the speeding is bad.

He also said that three houses down from him, there is a house with four cars, a truck and a boat parked in the yard.

“I think a lot of cars are using our street to avoid the lights on Churchill Road,” said Elizabeth Pratt, who also lives on Beechwood.

Councilman Larry Steiner told the residents that people on Gary Avenue had a similar problem, but they used a block-watch group to put a stop to a lot of the problems.

“At those meetings, the police chief was there; everybody gets their heads together,” he said, and he advised them to come to the next one, which is at 6 p.m. Thursday at the library.

Mayor James Melfi said the city takes zoning violations and people who don’t keep up their property very seriously.