Reader says Mr. Answer Person missed the point on question about large truck traffic on Water Street

(In response to Wednesday's Mr. Answer Person response to a question about heavy truck traffic on Water Street, Chris e-mails: "I think what Mary may be getting at is there are a lot of large trucks coming through downtown that don't NEED to come through downtown.  They can use the highway system around town and come in on Montgomery Street if they need to get grain to the coop at the end of Water Street.  Same with the big oil trucks going to their home base on South Avenue.  The drivers are probably trying to save time but I bet with all the stoplights and traffic downtown they aren't saving time at all.  When Water Street was planned, it was not planned for big traffic, that's for sure.  Of course deliveries must be made downtown and that traffic is welcomed, it is the large trucks that unnecessarily choose to barrel through downtown that aren't welcomed.")

Mr. Answer Person replies, "A lot of time when I get questions, I can tell that the person has an opinion they are looking for me to support.  That was the case with Mary's e-mail, which obviously was a call to ban heavy truck traffic from downtown Decorah.

Look, if you can convince four out of the seven Decorah City Council members to ban grain trucks or big oil trucks from going through downtown, more power to you.

But my answer was aimed at explaining to Mary that there are other sides to every question.  For instance, if you allow heavy trucks to make deliveries downtown but banned other heavy trucks from driving on Water Street, wouldn't you open the City of Decorah to a lawsuit claiming the city was unfairly discriminating against large trucks which "don't NEED to come downtown?"  How would you determine which trucks "NEED" to drive on Water Street and which don't?

Assuming you could pass that legal hurdle, there's always the enforcement question.  Decorah Police have a lot of responsibilities already.  Are you going to support hiring another police officer to park along Water Street in a squad car, waiting for heavy trucks to come by?

You might not see these questions as major issues, but it's the job of the Decorah City Council to consider all interests--including the interests of truck owners to use the streets that their property taxes are paying for.  The point of my answer was that the city's Streets Committee HAS looked for a solution to this issue, but hasn't found anything that doesn't create another set of problems.