Concern for Arnold Children Closed Tamarack Drive

Theodore Ridge residents filled the Arnold Council Chambers during the council meeting at City Hall on March 15, to voice their safety concerns about the heavy traffic and drivers speeding through the 20 mph neighborhood.

Gloria Kettmann, one of the association's trustees, said speeders threaten children playing in Theodore Ridge front yards. “I tell them (the drivers) to slow down, but they give me the finger, or cuss me out, they drive across our lawns and knock over our mailboxes.”

She said she would have never bought a home in Theodore Ridge if she knew Tamarack Drive, which is west of the subdivision, would be opened traffic.

Theodore Ridge resident Mike Mantia said drivers yell and scream at his three children, ages 4, 8 and 9 years old, while playing in Mantia’s front yard. How do you explain strangers’ screaming at a child who is minding the child’s own business, Mantia said.

Although the neighborhood has speed bumps, they only slow speeders in a small section of the neighborhood, Mantia said.

“People (increase their) speed after they pass the bumps because they’re frustrated,” Mantia said.

Few people stop at the stop signs, he said. Several subdivisions of people drive through the 70-house Theodore Ridge neighborhood. “And those aren’t just Arnold communities driving through.”

Mantia also said vandalism and theft occur in the neighborhood.

Another Theodore Ridge resident Laurie Kutz said she and her neighbors, over the years, have patiently added stop signs, painted speed limits on the street and added speed bumps to slow speeders in the neighborhood.

“We haven’t noticed any change,” Kutz said. The residents paid for the speed bumps, for repairs to their  lawns and irrigation systems, to replace mailboxes, and to repair sideswiped or rear-ended vehicles. “Now, we’re asking for your help,” she said to Arnold councilmen.

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Read the City of Arnold's decision to help Theodore Ridge residents

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After concrete barriers were placed to prevent traffic into the subdivision, from Tamarack Drive, a few readers anonymously said, in emails to ArnoldPatch, that the City of Arnold inappropriately used its authority and the city’s police department.

Editor's note: The ArnoldPatch editor apologizes to Theodore Ridge residents identified in this article but who's names are mispelled. The writer felt their stories were important but was unable to obtain the proper spelling for their names. The editor will correct the names when the proper spelling can be obtained and confirmed. The spelling of Gloria Kettmann's name has been corrected. The writer incorrectly credited Maureen Cook with statements made by Laurie Kutz, this has been corrected. Again our sincere apologies.