West Keizer group offers yard 'Slow Down' signs; city staff say state supply is exhausted

Carolyn Holman, representing the West Keizer Neighborhood Association, told the Keizer Multimodal Safety Committee that her group has purchased yard "Slow Down" signs to give neighbors an inexpensive way to encourage slower driving.

"We can get 6 of these signs for $30," Holman said, explaining the group wants to offer them to interested residents to post on private property. She said the effort aims to give neighbors a visible way to express concern about speeding on residential streets.

Chair Hirsch and staff reported contacting the state bike-ped program about a similar sign distribution earlier this season. "Those are a great idea but we don't have the budget anymore," Hirsch said, recounting a conversation with Heidi Manlove at ODOT and noting the agency's current inability to supply additional signs to smaller cities.

City staff and committee members advised that the yard signs be placed on private property rather than in the public right-of-way. "As long as you put them in private property areas," Hirsch said, "there's no problem." Committee members also said they would pass along any neighborhood feedback about the signs to ODOT to inform future distribution if funding becomes available.

The committee encouraged organizers to coordinate with their neighborhood associations and with city staff about fundraising or using association budget allocations to purchase or accept donations for signs. A staff member said associations may request annual budget allocations and may accept designated donations through the city's process.

Next steps: the committee asked staff to relay neighborhood feedback to ODOT and to include the signage topic in outreach about the neighborhood traffic management plan. Holman said the group will share any results or resident feedback with the committee when available.