MILTON, Del. - A website that was created by a couple living in Milton to deter people from speeding in front of their house has been shut down.
In place of recordings of drivers and paragraphs of discontent with said drivers is a message from Joel and Kelly DeMott on the webpage. That message now speaks to their hope for future talks regarding safety within the town and says the decision to close the site comes from discussions with Milton Mayor John Collier.
"At no point were we asked or pressured to take it down. However, after careful thought, I suggested taking the site offline as a way to reduce tensions and allow for more productive discussions about road safety in our community," said Joel and Kelly DeMott.
MJ Ostinato, who lives nearby, thinks deleting the website was the right move.
"I have heard comments that 'I'm never coming to your town again' because everybody's yelling and mad at each other," said Ostinato. "I think in one way, what she has done is create one central enemy for everybody to gripe about and not necessarily reduce speeding."
Other neighbors, like George Bryant, think the website was a useful tool.
"It's safer for the whole neighborhood because the speeding, and the elderly people you have and the kids up the road, so I don't see anything wrong with it," said Bryant. "I think there needs to be more consistency with law enforcement in this area."
A website that was created by a couple living in Milton to deter people from speeding in front of their house has been shut down.
On Monday, CoastTV News reported on the creation of the website as a way for the DeMott's to take the speeding and noise on Atlantic Street into their own hands. The speed limit on Atlantic Street is 25 mph but that wasn't slow enough to prevent their pet from being hit.
"I guess it was about a month ago, we came out and our kitten had got out," DeMott explained. "The cat got out and the next morning we found her with her head smashed in right here. That was pretty much it for me."
However, after CoastTV's initial report, several messages were received about the discontent for the cameras at the DeMott's property. Milton local and administrator of Facebook page Simply Milton, Threasa Brittingham, said in a statement to CoastTV that speeding only appears to be an issue for the webpage creators.
"Milton doesn't have traffic problems - I cannot fathom how one can speed approaching a stop sign."
The couple's solution prior to creating the website was to park their cars on the road to slow down drivers and force them to navigate around them on the narrow roadway.
At Monday's Milton Council meeting, the town is expected to discuss making Atlantic Street a no parking zone from Chestnut Street to the town boundary. That meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Milton Library.
