Lubbock City Council Approves 114th Street Speed Limit, Chided by Citizen Julian Hernandez For Previous Comments

At Thursday evening’s Lubbock City Council meeting, the Council gave final approval to a speed limit change in South Lubbock.

The section of 114^th Street between Indiana and Quaker Avenues will now have a speed limit of 50 miles per hour.

A new two-lane concrete roadway was constructed between Memphis and Indiana Avenues, and city staff conducted a speed zone study in June of 2013.

The speed study results showed that the 85^th percentile speed was 51 miles per hour for eastbound traffic and 59 miles per hour for westbound traffic.

The City’s traffic engineering department recommended the posted speed limit be set at 50 miles per hour, giving 114^th Street a consistent speed limit from University Avenue to Slide Road.

It will likely take three to four weeks before the new signage is placed for the new speed limit.

The Council approved the measure 5-0, with District One Councilman Victor Hernandez and District Five Councilwoman Karen Gibson absent.

Also, during the citizen comments portion of the meeting that precedes the regular and consent agendas, one person spoke out on his previous experiences with the Council.

At a December 2012 City Council Meeting, Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson suggested that nineteen-year-old Julian Hernandez should remove his hat when speaking at a meeting.

This time, Julian Hernandez spoke in front of the Council wearing a panda hat with long tassels running down the sides.

Julian Hernandez began, saying “I’m humbled at the fact that you guys are condescending and arrogant and it’s hard for the average citizen to come up here and express their opinion to you when you guys are that way.”

“I may be an uneducated teenager, but I’ve done my research and I know what I’m talking about, and I don’t appreciate the fact that you guys were condescending,” Julian Hernandez continued.

He first zeroed in on the absent District One Councilman Victor Hernandez.

“Mr. Hernandez distanced himself from me…If he wants to distance himself from me, then I’d suggest that he go pay his bills. No wonder we’re a billion dollars in debt. We’ve got people that can’t even handle their own financials running the city’s financials,” Julian Hernandez continued.

He then chided the absent Councilwoman Gibson on her outspoken stance supporting the City’s synthetic marijuana ban, saying “Ms. Gibson hid behind the kids…you have to be eighteen to buy the stuff and it’s not our responsibility...how long are you guys going to hide behind the kids?”

Julian Hernandez had some harsh words for District Two Councilman Floyd Price and some kind words for District Three Councilman Todd Klein.

You can listen to Julian Hernandez’s entire comments to the Council below.