The Visalia City Council met on December 4, 2023, beginning with a work session at 4:00 PM and a regular session at 7:00 PM. Council Member Emmanuel Hernandez Soto was absent. The council approved a 14-item consent calendar (with one item pulled for separate discussion), heard a federal lobbyist presentation, conducted a public hearing on a special events ordinance, and recognized a local priest for 50 years of service. All votes were 4–0.
Caller, the work session of the Visa City Council. We are going to begin with public comments. Citizens are now invited to comment on issues within the jurisdiction of the Visalia City Council. The council asked that you keep your comments concise and positive. Creative criticism presented with appropriate courtesy is welcome. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes and the timer will notify you when your time is expired. Please begin your comments by stating and spelling your name and providing your city of residence. This thing, yes, you can hear me. I may have to excuse myself. I've developed a cough, but I'm going to try to get this out and my time's running. First off is the uh Walnut Avenue between Midmattox and Santa Fe. The railroad crossing that that's there. I've called the city and they said it's not our responsibility. I've called the railroad, they said it's not our responsibility. So we got to figure out someone that's responsible because that there's uh a crossing on uh uh Pinkham and K Street that is cemented in the middle, cement on both sides, nice and smooth. This thing is rudded, go in both directions. Um to really get a good idea of it. I encourage each of you to go out there and drive but uh at the speed limit on Walnut Avenue and go across there because I watch and try to hit the the lanes that aren't pitted out where the traffic runs, but it is a hazard. Uh it will knock your front end out of alignment, and it's getting worse. So I don't know what needs to be done. I've made server a few phone calls to the city and to the railroad, and it's still there just bumping along. So that uh without going into further, that's it for number one. Whew, that thing is quick. Uh number two is I don't know what can be done, but it's getting increasingly uh bad here in Visalia. People speeding up on the last part of a yellow light and running a red light on multiple intersections. This happened also at Pinkham and K Street, which is a four-way stop sign. I pulled up and stopped coming from the uh north. Another car came up and stopped coming from the south. A car coming down K Street. I was waiting for him to slow down to make a to go across. He never did. He speeded up about 35, 40 miles an hour and ran both stops sign. And that that's not uncommon. I mean, people just don't care. It's a horrible driving in this town anymore. Um, I don't know if there's something digitally that can be mounted on stoplights to where it can come on and and catch uh license plate numbers or whatever, and people that are just belligerently running red lights because I've witnessed several of those in the last few months. And uh it's it's crazy. You gotta drive defensively defensively in this town or get killed. And uh and it's getting worse. Uh number three was uh there used to be a law regarding headlight adjustments, uh low beam high beam. Um boy, there's nothing anymore because as these guys raise these trucks up with the bright white lights, and a lot of the new cars have the bright white. Uh basically, I drive an older 200 Ford Wind Star. You can adjust the center mirror, but the side mirrors you can't. A lot of these trucks, these little bright white lights of theirs are right in both rear view mirrors and totally blind you sitting in the driver's seat. And whether you're stopped or not, or whether you're driving down the road andor coming towards you. I have a few times my own bright. Can we bring the comments to the end? Your time's expired. We didn't get his name. Can we get your name?