"Dr. Hank" Miller

Councilman, Midlothian City Council Place 5

5790 W. Hwy. 287

Midlothian, TX

972-723-9411

News

The information on this page is to inform you of the job your city council doing.  You are encouraged to e-mail me and provide your opinions.  I encourage you to contact the other 6 council members and do the same.

8/25/2009

No parking on Business 287:  City staff asked the council to approve considerable changes in the law regarding parking on Business 287 by establishing no parking, stopping, or standing of vehicles on either side of the roadway along Main Street (U. S. Hwy. 287 Business) from Midlothian Parkway westward to U. S. Hwy 287, in both directions.  This ordinance replaced multiple older ordinances.  Changes from the older ordinances include:

• Removing the exceptions for mechanical breakdown, emergency repairs, and short-term deliveries,

• One old ordinance was for trucks only;  the new one applies to all vehicles,

• Extending the area to Midlothian Pkwy. to Hwy 287, and,

• Raising the maximum fine from $200 to $500.

On a motion by Councilman Houston, seconded by Mayor Whatley, it passed 4 - 2.  Councilman Chambers and I voted against this change.

I opposed this ordinance because:

• To fine someone $500 for having a mechanical breakdown is ludicrous.  Those supporting the ordinance said the ticketed person could go to court and present their case before the judge.  It's unreasonable to think someone should have to spend the time off work to go to court, especially if they live out of town.  And, since the law is written the way it is, why should the judge let them off?

• We're making it too difficult for people to conduct business in Midlothian.  This ordinance makes it more difficult for truckers and others to stop and shop in our city.

During the council session on the ordinance that limited anyone, but especially trucks, parking on Main St., I asked if the business owners were contacted or had input and was told, "No."   Next, I asked if we had any objective data regarding accidents along Main St. since that was an issue brought up and was told, "No."  Therefore, Councilman Chambers and I voted against it for lack of proper information.  Days later, when I requested the raw data for compiling the information myself on vehicle and especially truck accidents on Main St., City Manager Hastings felt it necessary to release the raw data to all Council members, even though it was not processed.

When confronted about releasing my research raw to everyone, City Manager Hastings said this was standard protocol.  There was also a huge issue made of the fact that it took 8 hours to compile the data that I requested -- data that should have been provided BEFORE the ordinance was presented to council.  In this particular case, you have to ask yourself whether the city manager is part of the solution or part of the problem.

* Data supplied by the Midlothian Police Department.

The total vehicle accidents were 635 between 08/2007 and 08/2009 or 26.46 per month.  Semi-Tractor trailer accidents within the city were 63 for last 20 months or 3.15 per month.  This 10% is low for the amount of industry and related traffic we have in our city.

Of the 63 accidents, only 5 were Semi-tractor trailer accidents on Main Street for the 20 month period or .25 per month or 1 every 4 months.

Taking this a step further, the accidents related to Semi-tractor trailers that occur on Main street is less than 1% (.00944) of the total amount of accidents in the city. This is a fine example of the great drivers our city has and the exemplary ability of our police department to handle the roadway and any issues that arise.

I hope this chart of the objective data provides us all with an accurate assessment of how safe Main Street is without the addition of any new ordinances. Maybe we need to readdress the ordinance allowing trucks to park on Main St, since this data was not available at the time of the no parking ordinance on Main Street was passed.

Copyright © 2009 Dr. Hank Miller and