Excitement and anticipation over city Traffic Engineer Gabe Garcia’s presentation of the ballyhooed “Safe Routes to School” plan at tonight’s 7 o’clock School Board meeting in Council Chambers, City Hall, lost some of its gloss with the announcement that it will not start as soon as planned.
The presentation remains on tonight’s agenda.
News of the delay arrived starkly yesterday in the form of a 400-word dispatch (see below) from Mr. Garcia that cited two factors:
• Some programmatic objections by the neighbors along the “Safe Routes,” and
• Insufficient community-wide support.
Activists such as John Heyl, who has studied — and been frustrated by — school traffic for years, are sharply disappointed. When he received Mr. Garcia’s email, his reaction was, “Let me calm down first.”
After reflection, Mr. Heyl told the newspaper:
“I have every respect for Gabe Garcia's efforts and his 25-year commitment to Culver City.
“I am not happy that there will be no attempt to seek compromise and apply for this cycle's ‘Safe Routes to School’ grant. However, that is the reality we must all live in.
“Constructing sidewalks in Coombs Park so that pedestrians are not forced to walk in the flow of traffic on Farragut Drive was not a deal-killer for me.
“Neither was closing through traffic to Elenda from Overland on Farragut Drive at Coombs and establishing a student drop-off point in the Overland Adult School Campus to help reduce traffic down the residential streets to the CCUSD Quad-campus — those were the proposed changes that would have directly affected me.
“Traffic volume has grown beyond what was envisioned by our predecessors. Who would have imagined that not having a curbside side-walk in Coombs Park would create a safety issue? Who would have imagined that not having adequate pathways and parking for those new-fangled horseless carriages would have caused a problem?
“The simplest, easiest solution to the traffic safety problem is to get the necessary resources and mandate for the Police Dept. to aggressively enforce the traffic regulations in Culver City, and especially in the CCUSD Quad-campus neighborhoods.
“‘No Cop, No Stop’ is an ugly reality in the Culver City where I live.”
School District Supt. Patti Jaffe counseled patience this afternoon.
“I just received the memo from Gabe Garcia,” she said.
“I just want to hear what he has to say tonight. The ‘Safe Routes’ is an interesting plan, but you need the community input. It’s their neighborhood.
“We do support this program. Something has to be done. We all know that.
“They just have to work out what ever it is, and hopefully we can move forward. The community has been wanting something.”
Gabe Garcia’s message:
Safe Routes to School Workshops Update
The city conducted three “Safe Routes to School” workshops, in City Hall, on Saturday, at 1, at 3 and at 6. Approximately 5,200 letter invitations for these workshops were mailed to residents, property owners and business owners in the area bounded by Venice Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard, La Ballona Creek, and Overland Avenue. The purpose of the workshops was to obtain input from the community regarding proposed physical improvement ideas for a federal Safe Routes to School grant application. The ideas presented were starting points for dialogue. The purpose of the input was to help inform and define the proposals that would be presented in the grant application.
Subsequent to the workshops, it has become apparent to the city, based on community response by phone and email, that a major portion of the community surrounding the schools is not comfortable with several elements of the proposed plan. Further, in spite of the city’s outreach efforts, it appears that some in the community did not know about the workshops or were unable to attend the workshops (fewer than 30 people attended the workshops held on Saturday). Although the state’s deadline of July 15 made the process very compressed for all related processes, including public input, the city found this grant application very attractive because it does not require that the city contribute any funds towards the improvements – most grants do.
Nevertheless, based on the low attendance at the workshops and the significant email and phone response, the city has determined that a longer time is needed for further community input before a plan can be adequately vetted and proposed for a grant application.
The city’s original plan was to ask the City Council to authorize the filing of the grant application on July 11. This plan has been postponed to a date in the future when another similar grant can be pursued, to allow for further community input. An open-house style workshop has been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 to 12 noon, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, to continue the community dialogue. All members of the community are welcome to attend and share ideas on how best to address traffic flow and vehicle/pedestrian safety issues in the neighborhood surrounding the schools. Please check the city’s website (culvercity.org) for further information about future workshops.
