By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–A concerned resident who lives on the 2300 block of Kala Street in the Fox Haven neighborhood addressed the Helena City Council members on July 20, to outline his concerns about speeding motorists through the neighborhood and the possibility of constructing some speed bumps to fix the problem.

Jeffrey Smith and his wife have been residents of Helena for 33 years and Smith addressed the council with a short presentation full of ideas and possible solutions for Fox Haven.

“The problem we have is when school starts, with a high flow of traffic, that people coming from Maylene and Montevallo trying to access Helena roads to get to I-65 and Morgan Road are cutting through Kala Street as a high speed bypass,” said Smith.

Smith brought up the idea of possibly installing speed bumps in the neighborhood, but the Helena Council members said the feasibility and possibility of installing speed bumps was not going to happen.

The Council members and Helena Police Chief Doug Jones did agree that they could work something out for the neighborhood and residents because they did agree that it was a problem area.

“First thing we’re going to do is we’re still going to set a patrol car up over there before school starts, because it is a problem area,” said Jones.

Smith admits that he constantly sees motorists break the speed limit and run the stop sign when using the neighborhood as a cut through.

“The people who cut over this hill are at my estimated speeds of 35 miles per hour in a 20 mile per hour zone, and some of them more than that,” said Smith. “It’s just a steady stream of cars and virtually all of them run the stop sign and cut through during school time.”

In addition to the patrol cars in the area, Jones and Helena Mayor Mark Hall agreed that they would try and freshen up the signs in the neighborhood, cut trees that are blocking the view of signs and to begin issuing tickets to try and help alleviate the problems in the neighborhood.