/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
During the May 28 meeting of the Holbrook City Council meeting, Police Chief Nathan Christensen addressed the council regarding multiple complaints he has from the public regarding the newly established no parking zone in the 200 and 300 blocks of Navajo Blvd.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“I had received multiple complaints regarding obstruction of view from East and West Arizona streets where people tried to turn onto Navajo Blvd., so I sent an email to ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation). The road is governed by ADOT. The city, me, the city manager, we can’t do anything without ADOT’s permission,” explained Christensen.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
“I requested that they look into this and they conducted a study themselves and after that stated that these places should be designated as no parking. The signs went up on April 17 and there was a 30-day orientation period for people to realize there had been a change to the area parking.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
According to Christenson a citizen, unhappy with the change, requested information on why it was needed. “We stopped a lot of people in those areas and warned them. I was asked to give the numbers on the amount of warnings. Since the 20th, when this person contacted me, we’ve given 61 warnings and two citations. Those who think it’s a money-making thing for us, it’s really not. We don’t get money from citations; it usually goes to the justice court. It’s a safety issue. We’ve always had safety in mind when this was presented to us.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Christensen stated that he went back to June of 2011 and from then until the present time there were a total of 80 collisions in the 200 and 300 blocks of Navajo Blvd. “Seventy non-injury accidents and 10 injury accidents. Also, in the surrounding blocks of West Hopi, there’s an additional 20 accidents in that area including the 100 block of Navajo Blvd. That’s quite a bit of accidents for that small of an area in town.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The streets in the 200 and 300 blocks of Navajo Blvd. are marked with no parking signs to inform the public not to park in that area.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Christensen also informed the council of two officers that had received letters of commendation. Officer Heidi Hunsaker completed field training on March 20 and on April 5 she confronted an armed subject. “She disarmed the subject in a manner that was well beyond her age and experience and she did a really good job.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
The second commendation went to Sgt. Ray Patterson, who while patrolling on April 28, passed by a house that was on the house watch list and spotted a burglary in action. “Ironically, the subject that Officer Hunsaker arrested for the weapon, it was his house being burglarized while he was in jail. The suspect was arrested and he was connected to a burglary that happened the night prior in Flagstaff where about $10,000 in property was stolen. We recovered all the property except a set of golf clubs. So that was a good job by Sgt. Patterson.”
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Christensen said the leads have dried up pertaining to the arson incident at Tom & Susie’s Diner and encouraged anyone with information to contact the police department. “It appears that the guy knew what he was doing because he hid his face pretty well, like he knew where the cameras were in both places,” he said, adding that the arson and the theft of Little Caesars that same morning were related.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
A fire due to faulty wiring broke out at a home at the intersection of Arizona Street and Fourth Avenue two weeks ago. The fire damaged a chicken coup but was able to be kept away from the home.
/wp:paragraph
wp:paragraph
Christensen also noted that Mark Saxton graduated from the police academy last Friday and will begin working at the police department.
/wp:paragraph
