High on Catasauqua Borough Council’s agenda for their meeting Dec. 5 was to vote on whether or not to override Mayor Barbara Schlegel’s veto of an ordinance to allow two-way traffic on Front Street. The mayor argued unsuccessfully that the change should be made gradually and with a little more planning.

The 5-2 override was widely anticipated. Only two councilmen, Brian Bartholomew and Eugene Schlegel, are opposed to making the change to two-way traffic on Front Street. Schlegel said she is not opposed to the Iron Works project or to the prospect of a two-way Front Street.

“I want to see this implemented gradually, so we can see what consequences there are,” she said after the meeting.

There was little opposition expressed by residents to the change in traffic pattern. No Front Street residents attended the meeting.

Trudy Walker, a member of the committee seeking parking alternatives, presented her assessment of how the decisions were made.

“We looked at a lot of data and walked the streets to make sure these changes would work,” she said.

Any opposition to a two-way Front Street is generally met with a response from council that includes a barrage of consultant studies, an explanation of how important the potential developer’s needs are and what a benefit two-way traffic will bring to the business community. According to council President Vincent Smith, no parking spaces will be lost, and there may even be an increase in the number of spaces available.

What attracted the attention of residents more so than the Front Street issue was a proposal to eliminate parking on Limestone and Crane streets. The borough’s argument is that the roads are not wide enough to allow safety equipment - particularly fire trucks - to operate effectively when cars are parked on the streets.

“We need to make sure everyone is safe,” Councilman Brian Mc-Kittrick said.

Crane Street residents in attendance were not impressed with council’s logic. They argued that safety equipment can be put on streets in Philadelphia or New York that are decidedly narrower. An argument made by one resident is that his property was in place for 57 years, and there was never a safety problem until now.

Council did agree to table the measure until someone takes a closer look at options. Officially, Crane Street and Limestone Street are only 14 feet wide. As residents pointed out, there are stretches of the roadway that are wider, some areas extending to 18 feet.

Technically, a tabled ordinance must be addressed at the next meeting, but council members are not certain the borough can accommodate a full review in that time frame.

In a much easier resolution, Virginia Tabor asked the borough to look at the intersections around Covington Place.

“There was a light at the end of the street that was taken down. You can’t see well at that intersection around 15th Street,” she said. Covington Place is a one-way loop off Walnut Street. Tabor indicated that there is a line-of-sight problem exiting Covington Place onto Walnut Street.

“It is difficult to see traffic coming when there are cars parked near the intersection,” she said. “Can we get the intersection marked, so there is no one parking there?”