Neighbor Spotlight: Gary Westerman

It’s rush hour on a 96 degree summer day and 77-year-old Gary Westerman is setting up his lawn chair at one of the busiest intersections in North Austin. In one hand he holds a stopwatch, and in the other a homemade sign that reads: HONK HORN IF THESE LIGHTS NEED “TIMING ADJUSTMENT”.

For the longtime River Oaks resident, the timing of traffic lights at Parmer and North Lamar didn’t just cause an inconvenient backup during peak hours—it also posed a safety risk in his neighborhood when cars would reroute through the residential area at alarming speeds.

“The number one neighborhood complaint was all the traffic coming fast down Old Cedar,” Gary said. “About 90 percent were going over the speed limit. There are houses with small children.”

A former engineer, Gary decided to apply his own problem solving skills instead of waiting for someone else to address the problem, he said. Together with his wife Linda — who he refers to as his “partner in crime”— he monitored and recorded the speed of the cars cutting through the neighborhood. Gary then set up his observation station at the intersection, watching and timing the lights for hours while receiving supporting honks from passersby. Finally, he sent the assembled data to 15 contacts at the City of Austin and highway department that he found through some online digging.

His persistence was rewarded. By the following week, the department in charge of the light timing altered it by about 30 seconds, which alleviated the majority of the speeding and cut-through traffic.

“All of a sudden the traffic stopped coming through,” Gary said.

It's not often that residents get such a fast turnaround on civic requests. Gary and Linda attribute the quick response to the fact that they presented both a problem and a solution— backed by observations and data—as opposed to just a complaint.

Gary is no stranger to doing his part to improve River Oaks. He walks or bikes the streets daily, stopping to talk to neighbors and build a positive sense of community.

“Linda’s taught me the idea of ‘What’s the worst that could happen’ if you just stop and talk to people,” Gary said. “There’s maybe been one time in a gazillion years that someone didn’t want to talk.”

The couple often sit in their front yard to say hello to people passing by, and they have led several neighborhood initiatives — such as a mask giveaway during the early COVID pandemic and a cooperative lawn care club, Gary said.

Their next goal? Getting speed bumps installed on some of the busier streets in River Oaks.

“Until neighbors say, this is a problem we need fixed, it won’t happen,” Gary said. “It takes a person that goes, ‘what’s the worst that could happen’ if we try.”

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