Here is a document that I prepared in advance as possible talking points for my meeting with the assistant city manager on November 9. (Again, remember that meeting only took place because I threatened to go to the media after my wife and I received the certified letter before my display had even been built.)

I went through the document and they pretty much dismissed it. Do you suppose their claim of “an agreed upon arrangement made with Mr. Sanderson in the fall of 2006?” to shut me down as the first and only response to any complaint came from my willingness -- if traffic approached “DEFCON 3,” with every other reasonable efforts exhausted -- I would shut my display down for the season as an absolute last resort? If so, that's pretty dishonest.

Objective:

To develop a cooperative, incrementally staged traffic plan that starts with “doing nothing” and ends with “shutting down,” that gives me the best chance of sharing my display as long as possible with as many people as possible, while being altogether sensitive to the City’s needs and resources.

Preemptive Plans:

· “Not A Through Street” sign is up.
· Neighborhood Letter – CALL ME.
· Neighborhood Preview Night
· Ask immediate neighbors’ cooperation regarding parking for visitors.
· “Do Not Block Street or Drives” announcement on audio and Web.
· Live mic announcements or face-to-face request as needed.

Traffic Level #1 – We do nothing.
· Traffic can flow either direction.
· Dave monitors traffic, make adjustments to start and stop times accordingly, and watches for Level II threshold.
(Need to define what that is.)

Traffic Level #2 – Possibly weekends near holiday after exposure.
· One way or one sided traffic using barricades?
· Communication to neighbors and visitors?
· Which direction and where does the “back of the line” start.

Traffic Level #2A – If that still doesn’t solve the problem, should there be one, is there anything else that can be done before I shut down to anything but appointments/special requests by neighbors, friends, and media?
· Police?
· Off-duty police?
· Volunteers?

Traffic Level #3. Shut down other than special requests by neighbors, friends, and media.

Other:
· Is there an easy resource for getting neighbor’s names?
· Names for “Thanks For Your Service” preview?