Friday, April 22, 2011

Re-Re-Striping Begins. Smith asks LADOT to install $45,000 "Drag Race"

Crews were spotted scraping up the lane markings on Wilbur Ave. yesterday afternoon. At a cost equivalent to Northridge West's entire annual budget, Councilman Smith has decided to go ahead with the LADOT "compromise" plan for Wilbur Ave. This plan, rejected by the joint NWNC/PRNC board, will place a 45mph rated merge south of Devonshire right up to the Mayall intersection where more than 100 residents have asked for a crosswalk. Instead they will be getting a $45,000 finish line. Pleas were made to nearly everyone possible including Asst. GM John Fisher and GM Amir Sedadi of the LADOT to re-consider the 45mph merge portion of the "compromise" but obviously those calls have been ignored.

Meanwhile 3 days have passed and there has yet to be a peep from Smith's office about the at large hit and run killer currently roaming the West Valley. Perhaps that $45,000 would have better been served as a reward?

Safe Streets Northridge will be monitoring the Mayall drag race situation via video and providing updates in the near future.

Until then check this video out - the striping is not even complete and the drag races have begun! Notice the speed at which the FED-EX van launches into the neighborhood. I tried to keep pace but gave up at the 60mph mark. Think this scenario won't play out at every single hour of the day?

Pedal to the metal (think this guy is observing the speed limit?)





What Mayall / Wilbur used to look like before the drag race merge:




Smith made sure that the crews came out during the day this time.

Looking north towards Devonshire where the drag race begins.

The briefly quieter more peaceful Mayall intersection soon to have painted in conflict.

9 comments:

  1. What are you complaining about? They are keeping the bike lanes! Plus it is 1 lane for the southern portion. It was illegal to speed before, and it still is. Seems to me like you're just complaining for its own sake Don. Also your comment that the price of the re-striping should go for a reward for an unrelated fatal hit and run is very very distasteful! How dare you exploit that tragic death to further your own 1 person crusade.

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  2. Waaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!

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  3. While it's true that I'm a big advocate of bicycles as transportation and obviously for health reasons, I've never made this issue about the bike lanes. This issue is about safety first and foremost. The fact is that the speed limit was typically broken. In fact it's hard not to break the speed limit. Lowering it to 30mph would help but it wouldnt stop the drag race south of Devonshire into the neighborhood. I and Paul Kirk argued hard to get that changed during the Wilbur working group meetings and were stone walled by the LADOT, Mitch Englander and the others. So we now have a more hazardous configuration at a cost of $45,000

    That was the only part about the compromise that I'm opposed to for obvious reasons. 185 signatures from the locals were gathered from the community. Paul Kirk collected another 600 in favor of keeping the crosswalks at superior and prairie.

    I don't think it's exploitive to point out that the money used to create the new hazard could have been used as reward money to catch an at large killer who is roaming among us. You have the right to criticize my criticism.

    It's quite shameful actually, that I was the only neighborhood councilman to send out a notice. 5 days later and still not a peep about it by Smiths office, PRNC or NWNC. The killer is still out there getting his car repaired.. People should be on the look out.

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  4. HONESTLY I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD! WILBUR WAS MY SPEEDWAY THROUGH TO AVOID RESEDA AND TAMPA!! NOW I HAVE TO TAKE TAMPA DOWN TO NORDHOFF BECAUSE YOU PUSSIES WANT SAFE STREETS! AND I'M GLAD THAT KID GOT RUN OVER I WILL DO THE SAME TO ANY BIKE RIDER I SEE IN MY WAY I HAVE TO BE AT WORK ON TIME AND JOBLESS GET A JOB FUCMKING HIPPIES GO BACK TO CHINA OR GET RUN OPVER!!!!

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  5. wow. I don't know whether to be scared for my life or whether this is a joke?

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  6. I certainly hope that was a joke, because if you actually travel these streets you would know how many kids are walking, much less the bike riders. My children walk to school everyday & have to cross Wilbur. People like you should not even be driving, I assume. As for keeping your job, it will be very hard to keep a job if your arrested for running over someone.

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  7. Wow, that's quite the troll. This Bill character sounds like a candidate for a future hit and run. Anon at the top, the point is that it's not just what one person wants. It's that the plan was rejected by many people (and since we supposedly live in a democracy, that should count for something), but implemented anyways by the decision of an elected official sworn to represent the very people that opposed the decision. And the hit and run that was brought up speaks to the likelihood that this re-re-striping will culture a fresh environment for that type of occurrence to happen on Wilbur as well. Desoto is a drag race through and through. A friend of mine was hit trying to ride to school. No major injuries, but a hit and run as well. The overall point that you seem to be missing, anon, in assuming that it makes light of the recent hit and run, is that the money should be spent on stopping that kind of behavior from happening in the first place, not fostering it. Infrastructure and safety, not encouragement of BILLs.

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  8. I wish people would realize the effects of their speeding on the neighborhood. Maybe they're driving so fast because they hate spending time in cars? Continue advocating what is important, safety for the neighborhood!

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  9. They are akin to internet trolls, but instead of just psychologically annoying, they are physically dangerous. I've seriously considered caltrops to use on my own street for racers. I've stared people down to little effect and consequentially fantasized about reciprocity via rebar. But that's not the solution I'd like. What would be best is respect from both sides. Sure, people need to get to work, but people also need security and comfort in the homes that they work day in and day out to support.

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