The Northridge South Neighborhood Council voted 12-0 to endorse the completion of the Reseda Bike lanes from Roscoe to Parthenia. This particular stretch of road would be the final piece needed to complete a vital north - south bicycle friendly option in the west valley region. Among many important aspects of this project is connecting the orange line bike path to CSUN. If Northridge is truly to be a "college town" as the Northridge Vision plan comes to shape we will need to provide students with more options to get to and from school. Many residents in the CSUN area have raised issues with student off site car parking. Encouraging bicycle commuting to CSUN would work to alleviate some of that problem.
Though the bicycle lane does briefly become replaced by sharrows just north and south of Sherman Way (the jury is still out if the sharrow pilot in that area is having any kind of affect) generally speaking, Reseda Blvd. bike lanes will be complete should this plan get the pass from Greig smith's office.
In a reversal of recent process, an LADOT representative presented the street diagrams to the stakeholders in giant b/w print outs accompanied by a verbal run through of the plan and timeline for implementation.
This was my first visit to NSNC and I was surprised to find a friendly and supportive board who seemed to receive the many bike lane supporters in the audience with open arms. At one point a speaker asked the board if any of them cycle regularly and several raised their hands.
Glen Bailey BAC Chairman, led the effort to notify 100+ businesses along the block between Napa and Chase that will lose some parking on the east side of the street. He reported reactions both for and against with a mjority for. A fast food restaurant with a large parking lot on the block received the news very well stating that several of it's workers get to work via bicycle. Indeed, one businessman did show and make public comment that he was concerned about the safety of the street and the potential issues related to the loss of parking.
Mother and Daughter supporters ride bikes in the area
Among the many supporters was a mother and her daughter who ride a bike in the area. Other businesses who supported the lane including not surprisingly, Cycle World were also present. After public comment the council addressed the concerned businessman directly asking how he felt now that he heard the public support. He responded with a change of heart and seemed genuinely opened to the idea.
Northridge Community Plan specifically mentions Wilbur Ave. as a target for traffic calming
Wilbur's safety woes are nothing new. As far back as 1998 the Northridge Community Plan, part of the Los Angeles City General Plan, calls specifically for Wilbur avenue to receive traffic calming measures:
Discourage non-residential traffic flow for streets designed to serve residential areas only by the use of traffic control measures. One problem area is Wilbur Avenue which is a street with excessive traffic speeds through a residential neighborhood. Another area is that surrounding CSUN, where residents have noted the intrusion of traffic and parked cars.
Program: The use of Residential Neighborhood Protection Plans and traffic calming techniques to relieve congestion on collector streets that are expected to experience traffic congestion by the year 2010. For Wilbur Avenue, techniques can include the narrowing of travel lanes, chokers or sidewalk bulges with landscaping at minor inter-sections, and increased enforcement of posted speed limits. Speeding problems along Wilbur Avenue should first be referred to the Police Department. If the problem is not solved through enforcement, the LADOT should initiate a traffic study to determine the extent of the problem and propose appropriate measures to remedy the situation
Note that out of ALL the streets in Northridge, Wilbur is specifically mentioned. Fast forward to 2009 when the LADOT posted notice that they intended to remove the crosswalks at Superior and Prairie. Upon seeing these signs the neighborhood rose up and produced more than 600 signatures stating that they wanted to keep those crosswalks. MANY people showed up that summer to speak at both the Northridge West and Northridge East Neighborhood Council meetings to proclaim very loudly and clearly that they wanted those crosswalks to stay and that the speed limit should come down on Wilbur. Paul Meshkin of the LADOT was present at those meetings along with other staff members, the names escape me. They saw the outrage to the crosswalk removals and the disgust at the proposal to install peak hour lanes on Reseda. Most telling sign of the chorus of disapproval present at that meeting? The former president of Northridge West, who had originally introduced a motion supporting peak hour lanes on Reseda, found himself voting against his own motion. People were passionate and I believe the LADOT went back to the drawing board and came back with the only logical answer to most of the problems plaguing Wilbur... a road diet. What other options did they have? Stop signs? More lights? Speed limit decreases?
What the LADOT did not do was engage the public on the last leg of this journey and that is why we have a rift amongst neighbors. Over time, this rift will heal and perhaps alternate solutions will be proposed.
On Tuesday March 15th, the Joint Porter Ranch and Northridge West Townhall / Vote on Wilbur ave. took place.
The meeting room was filled with an estimated 450 concerned people from Porter Ranch and Northridge. The process that got us here was set forth by Councilman Smith months ago and the agenda called for presentations to the public and to the joint board comprised of Porter Ranch and Northridge West neighborhood councils. The first presentation was made by the LADOT displaying the compromise plan borne out of the Wilbur Working Group Ad Hoc committee meetings. Next came a question and answer session by the joint board followed by presentation "for" and "against" the LADOT compromise plan. After that, public comment, and lastly a joint board ballot vote on whether to reject or accept the LADOT compromise. In this case, abstentions, it was explained several times through out the meeting, would be tantamount to a vote of no due to the complications of combining two separate boards as a single voting body. In order for the compromise plan to be adopted, a total of 10 yes votes were required.
Abstention = NO Many on the panel were so frustrated with LADOT's "one option or nothing" approach that they abstained as a form of protest. Several times through out the meeting it was explained by the D.O.N.E. representative that for the purposes of this meeting, and abstention was equal to a vote of no.
For this vote I THANK Porter Ranch and Northridge west Neighborhood Councils. We all made a tough decision but indeed the correct one. The compromise plan, which I have maintained all along was rushed through, created a new and unnecessary danger, and did nothing to fix the "school drop off" problem that exists between 7:30am and 7:55am. Eventually everyone at that meeting realized it. I don't care to speculate on why this plan was rushed through but I can tell you that it definitely was rushed, to it's own peril.
Moving forward, it can be assumed that a brand new push in the effort to re-stripe Wilbur will emerge. My hope is that any committee formed to oversee such a process will include a healthy representation by the residents living on the street and in the surrounding neighborhoods. Each block has unique interests and there should be carefully considered block by block solutions implemented.
Do Porter Ranch residents and those living outside of the immediate neighborhood have a say? Of course they do. Should it be an "equal" say? In my humble opinion the voice of "Safety" should always have the most say over any configuration. Since this street is a secondary highway with residential characteristics, local resident's needs should be served primarily and through traffic needs should be served there after.
Presentation in opposition to the LADOT proposed plan:
Presentation in support of the LADOT proposed plan:
"What is the general purpose of a secondary highway."
Public Comments answered:
I couldn't get them all, but I posted comments that I felt best characterized the opposition to the road diet. I decided to answer some of the many comments that were submitted the night of the meeting here on this blog.
For or Against, EVERYONE agrees that speeding is a problem on Wilbur.
Of note is that most if not all of the people who opposed the road diet conceded that Wilbur has far too many incidents of speeding above the posted limit. It was also clear that many wish for the return of "4 lanes to Wilbur." The reality is that many in the community surrounding the road diet do not wish to give up the new center turn lane that runs the length of the 2 mile disputed stretch and this is where a compromise will have to take place.
"The crash stats are scare tactics. I don't believe them and even if true, so what it's normal."
The crash data and stats (click here for complete report) are indeed scary! They seem unreal but in fact they are a matter of public record. Though the stats are urprisingly DIFFICULT to obtain, but they are available for everyone to inspect online. The California state government maintains an antiquated website tool which connects to the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) database for requesting reports. This system is administered by the CHP.
The SWITRS website needs to be updated ASAP. The people should be able to easily obtain crash data and statistics about any street. It would be useful for making decisions for example when purchasing homes or locating safe routes to work or school for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike.
In addition to requesting the data through SWITRS I reached out to Dr. Alex Thompson, Mar Vista Neighborhood Councilman and president of BikesideLA, and Sgt. David Krumer of the LAPD. Both are members of the LAPD Bicycle task Force of which I have been involved as well. Both worked hard to get accurate statistics for this stretch of Wilbur using the SWITRS database.
Sgt. Krumer's method actually encompassed a broader range of accidents, those occurring up to 30ft from Wilbur at the major intersections and cross streets. The theory being that crashes up to 30 ft from the intersection, on for example Plummer, would still be related to Wilbur Ave since they occurred in such close proximity. That methodology produced more than 350 reported incidents, however as per advisement of Thompson, the radius was cut to zero on incidents reported on that 2 mile stretch of Wilbur in order to remove any doubt that the statistics were doctored to make a stronger case.
The Statistics
Between 1999 and 2008, there were 234 traffic collisions reported on Wilbur Ave between Nordhoff St and Chatsworth, an average of 23 each year. If these collisions were spaced evenly, there would be one every 46 feet, as you walked from Chatsworth to Nordoff. The 234 collisions resulted in 364 injuries, and 5 deaths. If you extend the study to include up to Rinaldi the death toll rises to 8 and the crashes increase by more than 150 reported incidents.
Keep in mind, we all know that the police are loathe to write up accident reports. They expect people to exchange info and settle things through civil means (insurance), they don't like to be bothered. The fact that these incidents found in the SWITRS database are reported means that they had to break a significant thresh hold of severity for the police to decide to take a report.
Seriously. For those who don't care about the safety of the neighborhood they are speeding through... Well then... IS there a thresh hold death rate that would change their mind? If 1 person dies every year on Wilbur is that acceptable? Perhaps even 2 or 3 people could die per year and some people would still not care.... What is the acceptable death rate?
"Less incidents on Wilbur since the implementation of the road diet." -LAPD
One thing that is difficult for anti road diet people to dismiss is that the new contiguous center turn lane has addressed 77% of the crashes that occurred under the old configuration. The LAPD confirmed as such Tuesday night reporting "Incidents are down since the road diet was implemented."
Previously, sans-center turn lane, residents have complained of the pressure from speeding traffic approaching from behind to make a quick left from the southbound "fast lane" whilst gauging the often time variably speeding oncoming traffic. A particularly dangerous scenario is when cars approach at different speeds for example a car speeding north passing a slower car in the left lane. This speeding car approaching in the blind spot of the slower car from the south bound left turner's perspective has proven a huge hazard. The center turn lane can not exist under the old configuration and include 4 travel lanes plus parking even without the bike lanes. This is the reality.
"Speeding 13% C'mon man"
As you can hear in the video above, right after the opposition to the LADOT plan presentation, a person in the audience pointed out that speeding was listed as the cause of "only" 13% of the collisions on Wilbur. The thinking behind this comment seemed to be that if only 13% of the collisions are blamed on speeding it would seem that speeding wasn't a significant enough problem to bother addressing....
Answer: The speeding as a sole cause of a collision statistic is a bit misleading. Because speed is difficult to assess after the fact and especially when "hidden" behind other factors like running reds collisions and left turn collisions, speeding, as a sole cause of a collision is not so common. The SWITRS data will sometimes list a secondary factor in collisions, but because of the fact that secondary factors are not reported consistently the data was omitted.
The top two collision factors left turn into oncoming traffic and running reds combined with speeding to make 77% of the collisions. The road diet addresses a clear majority of the problems on Wilbur by providing a left turn lane for people to escape to instead of feeling the pressure of the fast lane rushing up from behind as a driver attempts to get into their driveway or side street. With the calmer flow of single lane car traffic a person can then judge far better when to make a left and is not faced with having to gauge two speeds of oncoming traffic often one car passing another.
"We NEED the center turn lane."
I agree! What people don't realize is that there are places south of Plummer where the road narrows and 4 lanes are not possible (regardless of whether there are bike lanes) without removing the center turn lane and / or parking lanes in front of people's homes. These are non negotiable in my mind. Obvious safety and quality of life issues.
"Are we going to reduce lanes and speeds on EVERY street to make them safer?"
Not every street. Just the ones that make sense. The character of the neighborhood that lines the street should definitely play a role in how fast the street should be. Obviously a commercial zone would be treated different than a walled off corridor or a neighborhood with homes that have driveway access. Wilbur is classified as a secondary highway by the LADOT. John Fisher GM of the LADOT explains that a secondary highway is made to serve local collector streets with local traffic and "some" through traffic. Wilbur is a wide street yet it has homes with frontages on it including several homes with driveways and no alley access - characteristics of a local access street mixed with the width of a through street. Again, the question can be answered by investigating the kinds of access that a street provides and providing safety above transit speed.
"Wilbur resident with 6 children thanks Rita Robonson and the LADOT"
"Move!"
Many of those opposed to the traffic calming of Wilbur take the position that people knew what they were getting into when they bought the home and if they don't like it, they should move. This is a phenomenon that I will call NIYBYism. If NIMBYism is "Not in MY backyard" then NIYBYism stands for "Not in YOUR backyard." Basically, people don't want traffic speeding past their own house, but those who try to improve the conditions in front of their houses and in their neighborhood should simply move lest they slow your commute down. The problem with the move mentality is, if one person becomes disgruntled with the volume of traffic and leaves, the next person who settles in will eventually will become disgruntled as well. No one really wants to live in a high volume high speed neighborhood after all.
"Cyclists don't pay road tax why should they get 50% of the road?"
There are 7 lanes on Wilbur. 2 parking, 2 travel, 2 bikes lanes, and a center turn lane. Added up by square foot, bike lanes are 1/6th of the space on this 2 mile stretch of road. Many people believe that the gas tax and vehicle registration fees pay for the roads so therefore all of the space should go to cars the thinking goes. In fact this is not true. Local roads are paid for through the general fund which is chiefly sales tax and property tax. The gas tax and car registration fees pay for the state's highway and freeway system most of which do not allow pedestrian or cycling access. Since local roads are paid for by everyone, the full right of use by cyclists and pedestrians is guaranteed by law.
Not only are local roads subsidized by everyone, they are not paid for proportionately by the vehicles that destroy them most. Every vehicle on the road is a 4000lb pavement destroying machine, wearing and tearing at the asphalt that year after year is rebuilt at an enormous cost to society. By contrast cyclists and pedestrians cause little damage to the roads and infrastructure. Shouldn't we be encouraging people to choose to use alternate forms of transportation simply because it saves tons of road repair money? What if our policy was to tax the heaviest vehicles the most? You break it, you should pay for it right?
"Shame on you LADOT!"
"Did the LADOT engage the community?"
The short answer? A little less than yes, but yes. While it is true that the LADOT seemed to say nothing in advance about the road diet implementation, it is also true that the LADOT got an earful in the past couple years for attempting to remove crosswalks and implement peak hour lanes. While someone at a Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council called Rita Robinson an "idiot." A smaller local group of people applauded her as a hero.
Calls for a safer Wilbur date back to 1998
Northridge Community Plan specifically mentions Wilbur Ave. as a target for traffic calming
Wilbur's safety woes are nothing new. As far back as 1998 the Northridge Community Plan, part of the Los Angeles City General Plan, calls specifically for Wilbur avenue to receive traffic calming measures:
Discourage non-residential traffic flow for streets designed to serve residential areas only by the use of traffic control measures. One problem area is Wilbur Avenue which is a street with excessive traffic speeds through a residential neighborhood. Another area is that surrounding CSUN, where residents have noted the intrusion of traffic and parked cars.
Program: The use of Residential Neighborhood Protection Plans and traffic calming techniques to relieve congestion on collector streets that are expected to experience traffic congestion by the year 2010. For Wilbur Avenue, techniques can include the narrowing of travel lanes, chokers or sidewalk bulges with landscaping at minor inter-sections, and increased enforcement of posted speed limits. Speeding problems along Wilbur Avenue should first be referred to the Police Department. If the problem is not solved through enforcement, the LADOT should initiate a traffic study to determine the extent of the problem and propose appropriate measures to remedy the situation
Note that out of ALL the streets in Northridge, Wilbur is specifically mentioned. Fast forward to 2009 when the LADOT posted notice that they intended to remove the crosswalks at Superior and Prairie. Upon seeing these signs the neighborhood rose up and produced more than 600 signatures stating that they wanted to keep those crosswalks. Many people from the community showed up that summer to speak at both the Northridge West and Northridge East Neighborhood Council meetings to proclaim they wanted those crosswalks to stay and that the speed limit should come down on Wilbur. Paul Meshkin of the LADOT was present at those meetings along with other staff members, the names escape me. They saw the outrage to the crosswalk removals and the disgust at the proposal to install peak hour lanes on Reseda. Everyone at those meetings making public comment spoke in unison. Most telling sign of the chorus of disapproval present at that meeting? The president of Northridge West, who had originally introduced a motion supporting peak hour lanes on Reseda, found himself voting against his own motion. People were passionate and I believe the LADOT went back to the drawing board and came back with the only logical answer to most of the problems plaguing Wilbur... a road diet. What other options did they have?
What the LADOT did not do was engage the public on the last leg of this journey and that is why we have a rift amongst neighbors. Over time, this rift will heal and perhaps alternate solutions will be proposed.
"The LADOT snuck in and striped in the middle of the night?!"
They sure did... and on a weekend too. Now call me crazy, but I think they do it on weekend nights because.... that is when they will cause the least amount of traffic when they block off the entire street to paint! This "nasty" characterization of the process has got to be one of the most twisted truths of the whole affair. Raise your hand if you think the streets should be repaired and striped during rush hour. Raise your hand if you think the streets should be striped during business hours or at any time during the day.
Conclusion and some asks for the LADOT
The "old Wilbur" is gone forever. We cannot go back to that dangerous configuration. The 1998 plan called for a safer Wilbur, and the neighborhood called for it in 2009 when it demanded to keep it's crosswalks and 2010 via petitions in favor of the road diet. These pro-road diet petitions were delivered on 8/23/10 a week or so before the striping was laid in. a second round of petitions were gathered in October.
Please continue to protect residential areas with traffic calming.
Please put in a crosswalk at Mayall / Wilbur regardless of the count. There are kids in that neighborhood who need to get to Nobel in the near future. Encourage them others to walk.
Please continue to consider the people living on the street and in the neighborhood first and offer more alternatives to help our neighbors in the north travel through our neighborhood safely.
These are some interviews with pro-road diet people who live in the neighborhood. I gathered these while collecting petitions in support of the Wilbur road diet. Those most supported the new configuration, not everyone I met was for it. Some streets have issues with exiting. My hope is to work with the LADOT and our councilman to fix these issues while maintaining the calmer safer travel speeds that the new configuration has achieved. The first minute or so of this video shows the morning rush hour first in pictures and then with a time lapse camera I put in place during Paul Kirk and Patti Loyola's traffic count.
This Tuesday March 15th at Nobel Middle School there will be a joint Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council and Northridge West Neighborhood Council meeting in which both Councils will hold a cumulative ballot vote on the fate of Wilbur Ave.
I urge everyone to attend, love the road diet or hate it, and when you do...
Secretive Ballot style Vote....?
The agenda and procedure for the meeting have been made public. Of concern is that according to number 10 on the list below, the vote will be a "ballot vote" taken by the boards which will conceal the individual votes of the board members. Many feel that the board members should be beholden to the public since they are public representatives of the community and voiced concerns about this at the March 8th NC meeting. PLEASE NOTE that not everyone on the board is comfortable with concealing their vote from the public.
As a representative of the people of my district, I promise to make my vote public the second it is cast. Others on the board have pledged to make their votes public as well.
Cumulative Vote on Competing Interests? I don't believe that combining the vote of both Neighborhood Councils is appropriate. Porter Ranch has a very different interest in the street than does Northridge west. For Porter Ranch, the conflict is about the speed at which one can cut through the neighborhood. These folks are not happy with the Road Diet because it slows them down in their travels to other areas.
Northridge West, the NC in which the entire road configuration is located, has a competing interest. These are the people that live on the street and in the local community. Not many people wish for a faster noisier street in front of their houses or near their schools. Not many people wish to compete with cut through traffic to get to their homes. Not surprisingly about 78% of the people living in the community support the calmer safer street. 98% of the residents who live in homes with frontages on Wilbur support the new road diet.
Because of these obvious competing interests and simply for the fact that each board has different bylaws and number of members, the votes should be tallied as separate boards. Yet, when we look at the make up of both boards, we find that the majority of the combined board lives in Porter Ranch. In fact technically Northridge West Neighborhood Council meets in Porter Ranch boundaries. This gives the impression of a distinct bias.
Dear Stakeholders:
Please join Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Councils on Tuesday night March 15, 2011 at Nobel Middle School (9950 Tampa Avenue Northridge, CA 91324) between 6:30pm to 8:30 pm for a joint town hall meeting to review and vote on the latest LADOT Wilbur Avenue Road Diet striping plan.
The meeting will be structured in the following manner:
1) Pledge of Allegiance – by LAPD
2) Introductions - CD12 (Five minutes)
3) Location: LAUSD - Nobel Middle School
4) Date: March 15, 2011
5) Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
6) LADOT will present the new official revised Wilbur Avenue road diet plan to both the PRNC & NWNC councils (Twenty five minute allotment)
7) A brief Question and Answer will follow between LADOT and PRNC/NWNC councils (Given the limited time constraints each board member will be given the opportunity to ask one question. Only after each board member has asked their question will a board member be offered the opportunity to ask a second question) (Thirty minute allotment)
8) One individual in support and One individual in opposition of the revised LADOT Wilbur Avenue road diet plan will be offered four (4) minutes to present a supportive and opposition prospective of the new striping plan (Eight minutes)
9) Public comment – any individual that wishes to speak will be required to submit a speaker card and will be given 1 or 2 minutes (Depended on number of speakers) to speak on the LADOT plan presented – every effort will be made within the time limitations (6:30pm to 8:30pm)to ensure every individual has an opportunity to speak (Thirty seven minute allotment)
10) At 8:15pm a cumulative write in vote from the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards will be taken (Board members names will not be divulged at the meeting but will be on their voting cards for verification and recording purposes – Board members need not feel intimidated) (Five minute allotment)
11) A For, Against, Abstain vote for the revised LADOT plan will be taken and tallied up of the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards (Ten minute allotment)
12) The tallied votes will then be presented to the combined Northridge West and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council boards and forwarded onto Councilmen Grieg Smith
Please join us as we move forward with the Wilbur Avenue road diet striping plan. Thank you for your participation.
This is the FINAL vote on the fate of Wilbur and the fate of the neighborhood. Don't miss it!
We are asking for everyone to please consider the amount of folks from Porter Ranch who will be attending this meeting by automobile. Let's give them our parking spots and have a good ole' walk through our neighborhood. No one cares if you are FOR or AGAINST the proposed plan. We just want the neighborhood to have a VOICE in this process.
Why the short notice??
Despite the howls of disapproval by the both PRO and ANTI Road Diet members of the audience at the March 8th Northridge West Neighborhood council meeting, President Tom Johnson pushed through a motion to announce the meeting with just 6 days of time to get the word out. Many in the audience emphatically concurred that 2 weeks notice is desired but those pleas were ultimately denied by the president and the board. The board first voted 6-6 on the motion having doubts about giving less than a week's notice get the word out... but after more exchange with President Tom Johnson insisting on the short notice provision the motion was passed upon the second vote 7-5. As notified on March 9th indeed, THEY GAVE THE COMMUNITY 6 DAYS.
Let's celebrate this short notice with a walk through this beautiful neighborhood and the hope of preserving it no matter your opinion of the road diet. The community deserves a voice!
. JOIN THE COMMUNITY WALK! CHECK THIS MAP FOR ROUTE AND START POINTS
Issues with the Wilbur Road Diet and 2 proposeds solutions.
Back ups during school drop off.
There is no question that back up occurs for folks heading south from Chatsworth to Devonshire. The dispute is over how much it's backing up and what to do to solve it. The peak of the back up according to an early study by the LADOT and a later study by Paul Kirk is happening between 7:40AMish and 7:55AMish and is a result of door to door school drop off traffic. This kind of problem is not new, school drop off is a common traffic issue in many neighborhoods and indeed occurred under the old configuration. But with the road diet there is a stack up in the south bound direction coming from the Porter Ranch and Northern areas with clogging back towards Chatsworth. For the remainder of the day, the result has been civilized flow of small amounts of cars and then during the evening potentially another period of back up - to knowledge no one has done a count in the evenings. Eventually, it has been suggested, non local traffic will subside as people choose higher volume streets like Reseda or Tampa to commute through. However other people have suggested those streets are backed up too.
A Compromise. 4 Lanes to Devonshire from Chatsworth.
The LADOT has presented a design to be voted on next March 15th. As I will show below, this design is ok except for one particularly dangerous merge scenario. To relieve the school drop off back up, I am proposing a 4 lane Chatsworth to Devonshire solution while preserving the existing road diet as is, south of Devonshire. The road diet has enabled the creation of a contiguous third lane across the entire stretch. It is vital and used for turning in and out of street locked communities the length of the road diet. It is this lane and the bicycle lanes make for a more civilized flow of traffic and a more people friendly neighborhood. With 3 schools in the area and CSUN, we need civility more than we need speeding and I truly believe that the school drop off issue can be solved in other ways, one of which is through a program called Safe Routes to School.
The Wilbur Working Group Ad-Hoc Committee
Though barred as a petitioned member of the group from the first meeting by the councilman's office, I was allowed to represent the people living on Wilbur during the second and third meetings plus an additional one on one meeting with Mitch Englander to discuss the alternate proposal.
During my time on the Wilbur Working Group Ad-Hoc committee, possible solutions to the "school drop off" back up issues were explored. The school drop off mayhem causes exit issues for the Belcourt and Ridgegate communities just north of Devonshire. Unfortunately for these folks, the layout of their community makes exiting a bit more difficult due to a one exit configuration. No matter the configuration of Wilbur this seems an issue. A look at Google maps shows the problem:
Only one functioning exit exists for Belcourt at this time. The emergency gate is located next to the baseball field. Perhaps this gate should be opened and made a full time additional exit.
Ridgegate gated community suffers the same one exit problem:
Ridgegate Gated community has one functioning exit and one emergency exit. Opening the emergency exit and making it full time functional has been discussed at the Wilbur working group. It would seem that no matter the layout of Wilbur, this would be a good idea.
Rush to Judgement:
Generally speaking everyone at the working group, though most completely opposed the traffic calming of Wilbur, were open to ideas. Unfortunately the one plan offered by the LADOT and rushed through by the committee creates an induced drag race scenario beginning at the Devonshire light heading south to Mayall. I'm referring to a 45mph rated lane merge that repeats all of the issues that made the bottleneck at Dearborn to the south a deadly problem. If the boards vote for this configuration statistics show that serious accidents will become an issue at the bottleneck.
Current LADOT Proposed design - a 45 mph lane merge:
This 45mph rated lane merge is being rushed through by the Wilbur Working group. Anyone can see that as cars pile up at the light at devonshire south, a green light would effectively be the start of a drag race that culminates at Mayall. 185 residents in the area have signed petitions stating they want a crosswalk at Mayall. With this proposed design, the intersection of Mayall would become a FINISH LINE for a drag race.
Alternate Proposed solution to relieve Belcourt and Ridgegate exit issues:
Keep clear markings and 4 lane configuration would appease the desires of the Belcourt and Ridgegate communities. This design would require 10' width lanes which the LADOT is authorized but is loathe to implement.
We Need a Crosswalk NOT a finishline!
Last month the Northridge West Neighborhood Council voted to support a "no cost" crosswalk at Mayall timed with the re-striping. If the street crews are going to be out there re-striping, putting in a crosswalk in conjunction with that re-striping will not cost much more if anything at all. This would be a huge improvement for the folks along Tuba Crebs and LeMarsh who live in a street locked community and who wish to cross the street safely on a walk through the neighborhood.
Alternate Proposed solution (cont'd)
Rather than the 45moh rated proposed merge that the LADOT has suggested for Devonshire south to Mayall, this design proposes Keep Clear markings, and a crosswalk at Mayall.
Re: The Joint Porter Ranch / Northridge West Neighborhood Council Vote on Wilbur Ave. Traffic configuration.
Mr. President, I charge that the process you, Councilman Greig Smith and Porter Ranch President Mel Mitchel have outlined is tantamount to the smokey backroom political environment of years, thankfully, long gone and therefore should be revised immediately.
In a recent letter to me President Johnson, You have claimed that our brave soldiers died fighting for the right to vote without "intimidation" and in private.
I agree.
BUT, You are forgetting that as Neighborhood Council members, WE are the GOVERNMENT representing the people. Those soldiers you speak of fought and died for the rights of the people to know what their representatives are doing, not the rights of the government to hide their vote from the people they are accountable to. We are elected board members. We all took an oath to protect the best interests of our neighborhood. Being a voting representative in a democratic system can certainly be a scary venture at times, but people depend on us as their elected representatives to have the courage and conviction to vote publicly and with accountability just as we depend on our city, state, and national representatives to have the courage to vote publicly. In fact we demand it of them. Our soldiers, our forefathers and founding fathers fought hard and many many many people far braver than you and I died so that the government could be more transparent and more accountable to the people it serves. They certainly did not die so the government can hold a third world dictator style secret vote. The least we could do is show some courage and responsibility for our choices that affect the public safety and treasure.
This vote is perhaps the single most important vote the neighborhood council will make for years to come. Lets not blow this by shrouding it in mystery.
I know I will make my vote public even in the face of the many people present who will not like my vote. Lurking among the people opposed to the road diet are the ones who viciously race through the bike lanes in the morning with no care for the neighborhood, the system and the rule of law. Who is actually being intimidated here? If I can handle it, so can you and everyone else among us who represent the people of NORTHRIDGE West.
President Johnson I greatly respect you and I greatly appreciate what you do but I humbly reserve the right to openly criticize this proposed process and your defense of it. You are our President, you should be working on behalf of OUR neighborhood and fighting for transparency and fairness. THAT privilege is what people are fighting and dieing for right now in Africa and the Middle East as they rise up against their own secretive and oppressive governments. They look to us for inspiration. Let us not forget that this is America, land of the FREE and home of the BRAVE.
I ask that each board member's vote be made public and be held accountable to the public they serve.
I ask that each board vote separately on the matter not as a combined vote. Porter Ranch has it's interests, the people you, myself, and the rest of the board serve have theirs.
I ask that before this meeting is announced that the rules are made clear as to how the vote will be tallied.
I ask that the definition of a majority vote is made clear.
I ask that at least 3 weeks public notice be given to constituents before the meeting and that the process is completely defined, open, fair, transparent and all clarified in the meeting announcement.
There is a lot of talk around the neighborhood regarding the new striping of Wilbur Ave. on the 2 mile stretch between Chatsworth and Nordhoff St. Many people who have a stake in the neighborhood were bewildered to see the appearance of two wide bike lanes, a contiguous center turning lane, and the disappearance of 2 travel lanes. This configuration is known as a Road Diet and it is a federally approved design engineered to "calm" traffic. You can read the official federal explanation here, and the Wikipedia entry here.
Many people have asked why did Wilbur need a Road Diet?
The answer relates to many issues. But the biggest reason is embedded in the fight in 2009 to save the crosswalks at Prairie and Superior. The LADOT had posted signage stating that they were going to remove them. But the residents revolted against that idea. Paul Kirk, collected 600+ petition signatures stating that the residents WANT their crosswalks! This prompted the LADOT to respond by making Wilbur a safe street to cross. Be engineering a reduction in average speed, the road diet has made it safer to cross.
Average speeds along the road that under the old 4 lane configuration typically broke the 40mph speed limit - a limit which one could argue is quite high for a residential area with 3 schools within a block or two of the street. With non peak hour traffic speeds easily reaching 60, 70 even 80mph the situation was quite dangerous for people pulling in and out of their driveways, for people crossing at marked and unmarked crosswalks and for the drivers negotiating the natural bottlenecks that occur at Plummer and Dearborn.
For the residents of the area, everyone knows just how typical it was to see serious collisions at the major cross streets such as Plummer, Lassen and Dearborn. As a long time resident, I've personally witnessed many over the years and have myself experienced a car rear ending my vehicle with such force that it launched the car up the curb and onto the front yard of our house. This was due to a speeder who lost focus and did not recognize that our vehicle was in the process of slowing and signaling a turn into our driveway. From talking with neighbors I know my experience is not rare.
Traffic Collision Stats
According to Alex Thompson, LAPD Bike Task Force member and Bikeside chairman, the CHP's SWITRS database reports 200+ serious collisions and 5 deaths along that stretch of Wilbur from 2000-2008. This is simply unacceptable for any street let alone a residential one such as Wilbur Ave.
Since the implementation of the Road Diet last September, the flow of traffic has become much more civilized. It is now less likely that speeders reach 50mph as the single lane configuration has done it's job of inspiring drivers to slow down. The psychological impact of the lane constraint has proven to calm drivers.
Benefitsof the Road Diet.
Home values go up in neighborhoods with calm people friendly streets. Calm civilized traffic makes for a deterrent to those who would use the street as their "cut through" street or "Speedway" as LA Times columnist and Porter Ranch resident Sandy Banks recently referred to it as. Reduced cut through traffic improves the quality of life for local residents. As pollution and noise decline people come out of their homes, go for walks, enjoy their neighborhood more...
Better neighborhood connectivity occurs when people feel like they can cross the street safely. In the case of the road diet, cars are still reaching speeds above the 40mph limit, however now there are only 2 travel lanes to negotiate rather than 4.
Safe routes to schools. With the newly re-striped and better visible crosswalks at Prairie and Superior, cars are more likely to yield to pedestrians many of which are simply looking for a way to walk to the area schools. Remember the days when kids used to walk, bike and skateboard to school? I must be old.
Yes. There is back up.
According to two separate counts there is no denying that back up occurs. The counts done by the LADOT immediately after the Road Diet's implementation showed that during a 15 minute period from approximately 7:35-7:51AM the traffic line at the Devonshire south light backs up towards Chatsworth. This is due to Nobel Middle School drop off. A second count was done recently that shows the same scenario occurring. This is an issue that is causing parents frustration and to choose alternate routes to school. The fact is, that there was always back up and traffic has always been unruly during school drop off. A simple solution would be for parents to drop their kids off a few blocks from school or even encourage their kids to bike to school. After all, there are brand new bike lanes to be used. Still, the desire is strong to drive kids right up to the school and it is a hard fight to convince them otherwise. The days of parents being able to brag to their kids about walking six miles in the snow uphill in both directions are long gone. This generation will have no such stories. Instead, this generation may actually brag about how difficult it was to avoid the alarming obesity trend that is befalling our nation.
The Wilbur Working Group Ad-Hoc Committee.
Councilman Greig Smith, in an effort to alleviate complaints from people living to the North of the road diet, has set up the Wilbur Ave. Working Group Ad-Hoc Committee. This committee was to be comprised of 3 members from Northridge West Neighborhood Council and Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council. Each of the members were to be appointed by each NC's president. Unfortunately for the residents of Wilbur Ave, NONE of them were included as a voice in the process and only one person living south of Devonshire where 80% of the road diet exists, was included on the committee. Recognizing that imbalance I sought to alert the residents of the working group and petitioned to be included on the committee as a representative of the residents who actually live on the street. Shouldn't they have a say in this? As it turns out, I gathered 55 signatures from nearly every home I could get an answer from one Sunday afternoon. I brought the signatures to the councilman's office where I was flatly denied inclusion on the committee by Smith Chief of Staff and council candidate Mitch Englander. I did my best to plead the case that the residents on the street should have a say in the matter and at every turn of the conversation it was obvious that Smith's office had no intention of letting me in.
I left the office dismayed, wondering what the next step was. Fortunately, I was notified by Smith's office that I would be allowed to attend the second and third meetings but by then the design was already decided upon.
As I found out in the second of the 3 (known) committee meetings, the revised "compromise" plan presented by the LADOT based on feed back from the 1st meeting included a painted merge rated for speeds of 45mph that culminates at Mayall south of Devonshire. It was quite obvious to myself and Paul Kirk - the only other member of the committee who lives south of Devonshire that this merge presents a similar issue that the road diet solved for the bottle necks at Dearborn and Plummer both sites of numerous high speed crashes over the years... Only with the newly proposed bottleneck the drag race starts with the green light at Devonshire, the finish line being the unmarked crosswalk at Mayall. Pedestrians at Mayall who wish to cross, will have to deal with distracted drivers speeding towards them and looking to their left mirrors as they negotiate their place in line before the upcoming lane merge.
We need a crosswalk not a finish line!
Proposed 45mph rated merge from Devonshire heading south to Mayall. Unacceptable! Any sane person can visualize the drag race scenario that will play out at every green light happening at Devonshire south.... Cars racing to get ahead of each other right up to the Mayall intersection.
The final two meetings of the Wilbur Working Group Ad-Hoc committee were basically back and forth talk sessions that lead to no changes what so ever to the proposed design. It was frustrating not to get answers from the LADOT about the traffic counts and the cost of the re-design itself. Every time I attempted to corner an answer from the LADOT about the cost, Mitch Englander interrupted and changed the topic. At one point Englander answered "It's within budget" to which I asked "What is the budget?" to which Englander replied, "it is not known."
The final vote.
From the beginning, the process outlined by Councilman Smith was never clearly defined. How exactly was the voting process to occur between the two Neighborhood Councils? Would it be a cumulative vote or would each board vote separately? What if there was a tie? Where would the vote be held? NONE of these questions are answered as of yet. There have been proposals to hold the meeting at the Porter Ranch neighborhood council... but why should a matter that occurs completely within the Northridge West district be decided in Porter Ranch? Fortunately that idea was discarded and things are looking like they will be held at Nobel Middle School.... The next issue is whether this is a joint cumulative vote or will each board vote on it's own. As we speak, the powers that be are pushing for a joint vote. I ask... Why? Porter Ranch has completely different interests in this matter than Northridge West does.
Porter Ranch Interests - MORE Cut through streets
It is no secret, Porter Ranch needs traffic outlet channels. It is a relatively new and growing development and with all the new residents there is great pressure to open up streets like Wilbur to MORE cut through traffic. But that degrades the neighborhood that has existed intact for decades with more and more car traffic. We've all seen streets in the valley which not long ago had a neighborhood character to them only to become shut off homes, walled off with side entrances becoming main entrances as residents retreat from their polluted noisy front yards. It's sad to see neighborhoods carved away by traffic.
Looming in the Future - Connecting Wilbur North to Wilbur South via an at grade track crossing at Parthenia.
Wilbur is the last stand and the Road Diet has helped to cement the neighborhood together. Looming in the future? An at grade crossing that will connect Wilbur South with Wilbur North. The plans have been designed but are currently shelved due to budget constraints. But beware, train tracks are under different jurisdictions and the money can pop up at any time. Once the street is connected, Wilbur will become a major thoroughfare across the valley. Expect Wilbur traffic to double and triple. At that point the neighborhood will cease to exist, cut in half and crusted at the seems by constant traffic. Home values will drop through out the neighborhood not just for the residents who live on the street. The existence and preservation of the road diet creates a less than feasible scenario making the at grade crossing less likely to become a reality.
