Michael Blake, 3665 Winter Creek, Rochester Hills, MI Mr. Blake |
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thanked the Commission for a chance to speak. He said that he had |
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lived in Rochester Hills since 1982, when M-59 was a four-lane highway. |
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There was very little traffic, and Lakeside and the Chrysler World |
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Headquarters had not been developed. Hundreds of businesses, office |
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complexes, homes and condos had since been built, and traffic noise |
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had increased over 100%. He tried to sell his home about ten years ago, |
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in a strong market, and people said they loved the house and forest, but |
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they did not like the loud traffic of M-59. That was ten years ago, and he |
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did not sell his house. In the past five years, they lost over $60,000.00 of |
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the value of their home, not even considering today's bad economy. He |
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talked with realtors who told him that with the increase in noise from M-59 |
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being widened, his home could drop another 20-30%. He was almost 62 |
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years old, and he would love to stay at his place and he also could not |
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sell it. He had a house that no one wanted, that he loved, and he had to |
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stay there. Their taxes had increased every year in the last three years, |
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but the assessed value of his house had dropped every year. If there was |
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a sound wall on M-59, it would help the value of his home. It would stop it |
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from decreasing as rapidly as it had in value. Most importantly, the |
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health, safety and sanity of the residents would be insured. He added that |
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the children in the area needed the help, too. It was difficult to see |
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children walking down Nawakwa where they did not even know there was a |
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car until it was on top of them. They knew that there was money, and that |
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the City had to set aside $5.8 million in the CIP to help fund the new M-59 |
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project as a percentage of the bill. President Obama had graciously |
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given them all the money for the project, and the City did not have to pay |
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anything. He asked why they could not use that $5.8 million to put up a |
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barrier. If they only put a barrier on one side and not the other, it would |
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amplify the noise that bounced off the other side and kick it back to them. |
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He lived approximately 500 feet from M-59, and there were only small |
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shrubs in between. He could not invite people over for a picnic, because |
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they could not hear each other talking. He reiterated that something had |
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to be done. He asked them to please respect the taxpayers in the area, |
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help them out and show them they cared. |
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Mary Blake, 3665 Winter Creek, Rochester Hills, MI Ms. Blake noted |
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that she also lived at 3665 Winter Creek, about 500 feet from M-59. Her |
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husband talked about a lot of the financial reasons why they needed a |
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barrier, but she maintained that she could not even hear her phone ring |
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on high when she was outside and it was in her hand. She remarked that |
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it was very annoying. Last week she was on her deck, and all of a sudden |
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a man appeared, and no one heard him coming, and he said he had |
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been calling. It turned out that he was a solicitor, but he could have been |
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a robber or even a murderer. She did not think a gunshot could have |
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