A line about legal marijuana sparked a debate about neighborhood traffic troubles at the Mountain View Community Council meeting Monday night.

“The legalization of marijuana in the State of Alaska took place in 2014, and has led to an increase in traffic on Taylor Street,” began a proposed resolution in support of new speed bumps in the area.

While the council ultimately voted to remove the reefer reference, the resolution passed with a 13-3 vote. 

Jed Whittaker, who introduced the resolution Monday night, said he frequently witnesses drivers careen through the intersection in front of his house. Speed bumps on Taylor Street would send the message that people “shouldn’t be coming here acting like fools, looking for drugs,” he said.

Most people in the room seemed to agree a connection between pot legalization and an increase in bad driving would be hard to prove, but they also agreed on the issue: The speeding is out of hand.

Several other Taylor Street residents spoke out in support of new speed bumps on their street, which is one of only six two-way roads leading in and out of the residential neighborhood of approximately 8,000 people. It’s not uncommon to see vehicles blow through the stop sign, they said. It’s also not uncommon to see kids riding scooters in the street.

“I’m surprised there hasn’t been a vicious car wreck or a child killed,” said Pamela Hill, Whittaker’s neighbor.

Gerry Jamestown, who lives nearby, still remembers the time a moose was hit and killed on the street several years ago. It happened on her birthday.

“It could have been a kid,” she said.

Here’s the final resolution, which MVCC President Daniel George forwarded to staff in the mayor’s office and traffic engineering division.