CALUMET CITY | An alderman who wants the city to study what can be done to help residents living just east of the River Oaks Shopping Center in terms of traffic access to their property had her attempt shot down by the mayor, who says the matter is an issue for state government.
Alderman Cynthia "Cindi" Pallick tried during Thursday's City Council meeting to introduce a resolution that would have had the city attorney's office study the issue to determine what legally could be done to improve access to residents along River Drive -- a two-block long road that runs east of the shopping center.
River Drive's northern end is at 159th Street and River Oaks Drive, while its southern end is a dead end at the Calumet River. There are no other access points to the road, which has railroad tracks running to its east.
The end result, Pallick said, is that residents in about 30 homes, three apartment buildings and a condominium often find traffic backups, and they can neither leave their property during the morning rush hour nor get back to it in the evening.
The alderman's resolution never came to a vote. She rescinded it at the urging of Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush.
Qualkinbush said she does not know of anything Calumet City can do because 159th Street and River Oaks Drive is under state jurisdiction, which means the issue is one for the Illinois Department of Transportation to resolve.
The mayor said Calumet City would be overstepping its jurisdiction with any effort to resolve the situation.
Pallick was not convinced, saying she considers River Drive to be a locally controlled road and not an extension of a state-maintained road.
Qualkinbush did, however, say she would support having the City Council's finance committee do a study to determine what the cost would be for Calumet City to improve traffic access in the area east of the shopping mall, a gesture Pallick said she appreciated.
But the alderman said more than studies would need to be done, since the problem of access for River Drive residents is not new.
"Those people who live there have been asking for our help for years," Pallick said. "This problem is not going to go away. We are going to have to deal with it eventually."
