Houston News
The fight over speed humps in Kingwood
05:40 PM CDT on Monday, June 29, 2009
Green Point Drive in Kingwood has no sidewalks—which is what had Kathryn Sagebien worried.
“It’s a neighborhood. We want to keep it safe,” she said.
Sagebien, like her neighbors, is afraid for the kids which is why she and 11 neighbors asked the city to install two speed humps.
When they appeared, the complaints from other neighbors rolled in.
Area resident Jack Stout is helping lead the drive to have the speed humps removed.
“Basically, they have gone to war,” said Houston City councilmember Mile Sullivan of Stout and his supporters. “This past weekend they went to around 300 homes and taped a letter to a front door to every one of those homes talking about the speed hump program.”
“They’re more just a pain in the butt than anything,” said driver Kyle Vogl.
11 News photo
Kingwood residents' speed hump debate.
This may be the last time tensions over speed humps boil over - at least for now. Last year, the city of Houston put them on 75 streets, but it has cut the budget down to zero for the next year, to save money.
Whenever the city does start funding speed humps again, they will look different. In fact, speed cushions, designed to let fire trucks move through more easily, will take the place of speed humps.
But whether it’s a speed cushion—or a speed hump—the only way to get them in the next year, is for a neighborhood to buy them. That’s what the folks on Green Point Drive did - and now it’s turned bumpy.
“Well I think the ultimate thing is to have the speed bumps removed,” said Stout.
“Their upsetness really pales in comparison to if there were a tragedy in the street, and that’s what we’re really trying to avoid,” said Sagebien.
Now the city’s program to get drivers to slow down has come to a stop.
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