HAYDEN - About 30 people turned out Tuesday night to give city of Hayden officials an earful on the Strahorn Road one-way.

Problem is, Hayden officials have no jurisdiction to change anything. Their counterparts for the much smaller city of Hayden Lake are in control, and they weren't in attendance at Hayden City Hall.

Hayden Lake converted the stretch of Strahorn between Miles and Hayden avenues to a one-way in September 2010. The road on that stretch runs along the west end of the Hayden Lake Country Club.

The city of Hayden organized the town-hall style meeting Tuesday to gather public input on the issue.

"We're approaching this in a manner that will work for all of us, now and in the future," Hayden City Council member Roger Saterfiel said as he kicked off the meeting.

Diana Kern, who lives on Hillview Drive, which is west of Strahorn and runs parallel to it, said traffic has been increased along Hillview as have the number of speeders as a result of the change.

She said traffic that once traveled Strahorn has been re-routing to Hillview because of the one way.

Fred Otto, who also lives along Hillview, said he wants to "give them their traffic back."

He said there are a lot of children living on Hillview and their safety has been affected.

Otto and Kern estimate they have seen a 25 percent to 50 percent increase in traffic.

Otto said he would like to see the city of Hayden convert streets in its jurisdiction to one ways to divert traffic off Hillview and back toward Hayden Lake.

In the past, more drivers used Strahorn as an alternative to U.S. 95 and Government Way for north-south travel.

A citizen petition against the one-way has reached 69 signatures.

The city of Hayden Lake cited high traffic volume, a narrow right-of-way and structural deficiencies when it made the change.

"There is nothing we can do - legally," said city attorney Nancy Stricklin.

City Council member and mayoral candidate Nancy Lowery blasted Hayden Lake.

"They made a decision in a bubble that has regional ramifications," Lowery said during the meeting. "We're all affected by this change. We need to be good neighbors."

Sean Hoisington, Hayden public works director, said the city is looking for ideas from the public to mitigate the affect of the one-way.

He said the city has offered to help Hayden Lake come up with alternatives to the one way. That hasn't gotten the city very far.

Whatever help the city does offer will have to be provided from a road budget that is already stretched thin.

Hayden Lake officials also have said they don't have the money to make improvements to Strahorn.

Following the meeting, Saterfiel said the city will be working to get others to join in the chorus for a change back to a two-way.

Those others could include the highway district, Kootenai County officials, and city governments, and others from the public.

What influence that will have remains to be seen.

Officials for the city of Hayden Lake have "dug their heels in," he said.

He said the city would consider converting some streets to one-ways, but that would just "push the problem somewhere else," which is not what the city wants to do.

Council member Dick Panabaker said the city also wants to avoid paying for some construction project.