One evening at dusk, Len Japs was driving home to the Summerwood Apartments. Maneuvering his sedan down Lake Drive between Lakewinds Natural Food Store and Market Boulevard, he ran into a curbed peninsula and blew a tire.

“I was just cruising along, and bam. I didn’t even see it,” he said with disgust. But a blown tire wasn’t the only thing wrong with his vehicle. Days later a friend noticed it was leaking oil, so Japs brought it to a mechanic. In the end, he had shelled out more than $1,300 to repair damages.

For this and other reasons, Japs and another apartment tenant, Jack Bell, and about 90 others signed a petition that Japs mailed, along with a letter, to Mayor Tom Furlong on April 30 asking for the removal of the 12 curbed peninsulas jutting onto the roadway at regular intervals on this section of Lake Drive.

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