Cruise Night Traffic, 1st Ave Stop Sign Public Comment from Theresa Solomon Aimee Brunckhorst
From: theresa solomon <tsolomonl3@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 10:18 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Cruise Night Traffic, 1st Ave Stop Slgn
To Kalispell City Council, and Police Department-
It was heartening to see some police presence on Main Street on the evening of 4/24/26 when
Cruise Night clogged the street with trucks spewing diesel fumes, doing burnouts, and rumbling
without legal mufflers.As the weather warms, I hope local officers are directed by their
commanding officers and supported by the City Council to enforce the existing traffic and
noise ordinances on Friday nights.
Judging from those who spoke in defense of notenforcing the law on Cruise Nights at the city
Council meeting held in late 2024, --drivers from Kila, Marion, Lakeside, Columbia Falls -
- the disturbance is caused largely by out-of-town drivers who come to town knowing there will be
lax law enforcement.The noise and dangerous speeding on side streets continues unchecked
because, at that meeting, several Council members indicated that they had no interest in enforcing
existing ordinances. Meanwhile, local residents near Main Street must listen to the noise until 11
p.m., and local businesses have their customers driven away EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT. Perhaps since
the Cruise Night mockery of traffic laws has only increased since that meeting,those Council
members who defended an abstract idea of"freedom" might reconsider in favor of upholding the
law.
We now have a new Council and a welcome new initiative to improve the downtown experience.
Friday night law enforcement is key to this --on Main Street, on First Avenue East, on Woodland
Avenue and through the Park.and wherever Friday night drivers disrupt peace and safety.
If drivers violate muffler or noise ordinances, if they are speeding, running stop signs, doing
burnouts, please ticket them -- no warnings --every single time, until word gets out that cruising
does not include the right to ignore existing ordinances and local law enforcement.
And please, put a stop sign on First Avenue East at 8th Street to break up the drag strip that runs
from 11th to 4th St. It's an easy traffic calming fix that, if enforced,would do a lot to prevent drivers
from going 45 mph in a 25 mph residential zone.
Thanks for your consideration --
Tery Solomon
1 st Ave E
Kalispell
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