MILL CREEK – With the popular community fall yard sale taking place today, residents can expect delays getting in and out of their neighborhoods.
Police say they will do everything they can to ensure that drivers won’t get snarled in congestion.
In years past, the city and the Mill Creek Police Department put up traffic control signs and paid for officer overtime to manage the traffic flow. But that funding was eliminated by the City Council after Initiative 695 was approved by voters in 1999, Police Chief Bob Crannell and City Councilman Dale Hensley said.
“I don’t blame the council at all. They had to make decisions on what to cut,” Crannell said. “We just do the best we can with what we have.”
The biggest concern police have is emergency access to neighborhoods should a serious crime, fire or medical emergency take place.
But Crannell said the most officers can do is ticket cars for parking violations and impound vehicles that are double-parked or blocking fire lanes.
The issue of managing traffic during the twice-yearly garage sale is a long-standing one. Part of the problem is that the event is not sponsored by any one organization.
The city, however, hasn’t taken steps the past few years to come up with a traffic plan for the yard sales. There also apparently isn’t much demand for one from residents, as no one has come forth to speak about the problem at City Council meetings.
The Mill Creek Community Association, which covers much of the city, doesn’t restrict when residents can have yard sales, but it does ban signs advertising them.
The yard-sale tradition began with residents who decided to have all the yard sales on the same day, said Mary Ann Bagenstos of the Mill Creek Community Association.
The yard sale is promoted largely on the community association’s Web site and through word-of-mouth from previous shoppers.
“The crowds have seemed to diminish during the last few years,” said Hensley, a resident of Vine Maple. “It’s nowhere near as strong as it used to be. We used to have to one-way streets in the neighborhoods, especially Vine Maple.”
Crannell expects traffic to be particularly bad in two neighborhoods, Highlands and Springtree.
The problem with Highlands, Crannell said, is that 25th Avenue SE is the only way in and out of the neighborhood. At the spring sale in May, cars double-parked and officers wrote several tickets.
“Some neighborhoods may need it more than others,” Hensley said.
Springtree, meanwhile, clogs up because that is often the first destination for people who come to Mill Creek from out of the area.
“First thing in the morning, they get hit the hardest,” Crannell said.
Police will have a normal daytime allotment of two or three officers on duty to manage traffic and patrol the city today.
“If things get out of hand, the officers can call someone in,” Crannell said. “But it’ll likely be spread out after the morning rush.”
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