Working with the city of Culver City and the Police Dept., the School District is implementing new traffic patterns on Elenda Street in front of the Culver City High School/Middle School complex.
“We know pick-up and drop-off times in this area can be busy and chaotic,” said Supt. Dave LaRose. “Our primary concern is student safety. We believe the new traffic patterns will encourage drivers and pedestrians to co-exist more safely.
“We encourage parents and others driving through the area during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times to pay special attention to the new patterns.”
Effective immediately, drivers heading south on both Garfield and Franklin can only turn right when reaching Elenda.
Parents wishing to drop off students on the west side of Elenda or in the Farragut/Middle School parking lot must enter the area at Braddock — or any street north of Braddock.
Today the city is painting new zebra-stripe crosswalks at the intersection of Garfield and Elenda.
Security personnel this afternoon will be directing vehicle and pedestrian traffic at both that intersection and Elenda and Farragut.
Parents wishing to drop their students off a block or two away from the area should be confident that these monitors can help their students navigate the short walk to school.
“We are hopeful that drivers will soon get used to the new patterns,” Mr. LaRose said.
“We hope they will figure out what works best for them. We hope they will adhere to the restrictions in place to enhance student safety,”
- Pedestrians should cross at marked crosswalks only.
- Parents should refrain from dropping off students in the middle of the road.
- Drivers should pull to the curb to drop off passengers.
- Parents should adhere to all painted curb restrictions to avoid being cited by police.
- Drivers should not stop in the crosswalk to allow passengers to unload.
School District security personnel direct traffic at the appointment of Police Chief Scott Bixby. Violation of their directions breaks the law. Drivers can be cited.
Officers will be out in force on a regular basis.
Parents and other drivers in the area are encouraged to take extra time to navigate the area until they get used to the new traffic patterns.
“We are grateful for the support and partnership we share with the city and with the police,” said Mr. LaRose.
School District personnel directing traffic have undergone extensive training by the police, he added.
Mr. Maleman may be contacted at gmaleman@aol.com
Unfortunately, the new traffic pattern effort does nothing to address the traffic mess in and out of the Children’s Center. Parents have to drive into the Center’s narrow entry, maneuver to back out or turn around in the Center’s parking lot or else turn around using my house’s driveway on Coombs, which creates a very unsafe environment for dropping off children. I’ve witnessed many near misses in the mornings, at noon, and in the afternoons. What a mess, and it is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Not to mention the large potholes created by the heavy traffic or the crumbling yellow rubberized safety strips on Coombs. In the thirty-eight years that I have lived on the corner of Coombs and Farragut, I have not observed any effort by the School District or the City to address this serious traffic issue. Let’s hope that once the new traffic patter for the middle and high school is tested, school officials will consider the traffic chaos that daily engulfs the Children’s Center. We love having the Children’s Center as a neighbor and the teachers, parents, and kids are a true delight, bringing much life and joy to our little bend in the road, but clearly some thought should be given to address this safety issue.
Ron Davis
It seems to me that if cars were permitted to park on Farragut Dr. Just adjacent to O.C.D. The parents would be able to park their cars on the street and walk the children to school. That alleviate the issue of trying to pull into such a small area.
I doubt it. Numerous parents now park on Farragut Dr, unmindful for the most part of the non-parking signs that are seldom enforced, and then walk their children to Farragut elementary as well as to the Center for Child Development. There are just too many cars trying to navigate this area, and of course opening parking on Farragut would greatly change the character of Farragut, turning it into a permanent parking lot for the schools and the church on Overland. As it is now, residents on Farragut are often unable to park on the street in front of their houses for hours and hours during the day due to the continuous parking of cars as parents try to drop off their children to go to school at the Center and Farragut Elementary; and this problem s compounded, of course, by the patrons of the many church affiliated businesses and community activities who park their cars on Farragut even though there are non-parking (except for permit) signs. A possible solution might be to have a staff person or persons meeting the children at a Farragut and Coombs drop-off point to escort children into the Center. The entry into the Center on Coombs could be closed to auto traffic for drop-offs with proper staff on hand meeting the dropped-off children. At the least it would help to have staff directing traffic into the Center during the rush drop-off and pick-up hours, which happen morning, noon, and afternoon.
But what about the crumbling, plastic, yellow safety strips on the street at various intersections on Farragut and Franklin? The strips at the intersection of Farragut and Coombs are an eyesore and probably unsafe, what with the plastic dust coming from the deteriorating strips. Many a morning I have had to personally sweep away the plastic dust that the street sweepers miss and before the children trudge thru it on their way to school. It seems that someone made a major mistake having these poor quality strips commissioned for our city. Better to remove them and replace them with freshly painted yellow markers.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Ron Davis