Re “Kudos to the New Turning Restrictions for Middle School”
I read Mr. Roger Maxwell's letter yesterday with great frustration.
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The School District’s Quad-Campus, Culver City High School/Adult School, Culver City Middle School, Farragut Elementary School and Child Development Center for Early Education is home for 4,000 students, supporting staff and facility and is in residential neighborhoods.
In recent days an effort to obtain some $1.5 million in grant funds to encourage students to use healthier means to get to school was shelved due to opposition to some of the proposed changes to address what Mr. Maxwell termed as “the unruly, unsafe traffic conditions around the education complex corner of Elenda and Farragut Drive” that have existed at least for eight years.
From my experiences as a resident of Farragut Drive since1973, the a.m. dropoff point that was apparently established at Julian Dixon Library years ago did little to reduce traffic on Farragut Drive. Vehicles coming and going from the Center for Early Education mostly run the two Stop signs at Farragut Drive and Coombs — as do most other vehicles either coming or going from the remainder of the Quad-Campus or avoiding traffic congestion on Overland Avenue, Braddock Drive or Culver Boulevard.
Ultimately, the Coombs entrance to the Center for Early Education, which could be defined as a cul d' sac, should be closed. Access to the facility should be from the parking lot of the Adult School's Overland campus, which already has a locked gate into the Farragut Elementary School and childcare center. There was discussion of adding a signal device on Overland Avenue to facilitate access to the Overland Adult School parking lot with the now-abandoned “Safe Routes to School” grant proposal. Much work still is left.
I only have a vague recollection of the blue handicap stall that once existed on Farragut Drive. I have had conversations with a neighbor who was instrumental in restoring the crosswalk after road- work on Farragut Drive obliterated it. It never was re-painted by the road crew.
High speed traffic in the alley that parallels Elenda was the largest concern voiced by the majority those speaking on behalf of Elenda residents at recent community outreach meetings. These days there is only one sign prohibiting entry into the alley between Farragut Drive and Franklin. It is posted near the intersection of Franklin and Elenda, doing nothing to address cut-through traffic from Farragut Drive to Franklin, or any of the other alley sections between Farragut Drive and Braddock Drive. Paramount to drivers observing posted signs in the Quad-Campus area is is lack of enforcement by the Police Dept. “NO COP, NO STOP!”
Many traffic safety problems remain to be addressed or re-addressed. In my own evaluation of traffic around the Quad-Campus on Tuesday, the first day of school, what tamed the unruly drivers was the half-dozen CCPD officers who were very visible and vocal. At my end of the street, frustrated drivers unloaded their passengers, mostly while they were stuck in the line of vehicles backed up from Overland to Elenda…
“Just walk, it will be faster” was heard often along with the angry horn blasts. After the CCPD officers no longer were visible, vehicles went back to running the Stop signs.
In the afternoon, CCPD motor-officers directed traffic through the Farragut Drive/Coombs intersection, trying to keep vehicles moving through the Quad-Campus area. For me, the results were more bottlenecked traffic trying to go from Farragut Drive to Overland Avenue.
Until Culver City government, CCUSD and local residents reach an acceptable compromise to even begin seeking out funding for streetscape changes, it is essential that CCPD is given the mandate and resources to maintain a zero-tolerance for traffic infractiions around the CCUSD Quad-Campus.
In recent years there have been three pedestrian vs. vehicle accidents involving students in the area described by Mr. Maxwell. Local area residents are terrified that a fatal injury is what it will take to finally fully address the unsafe traffic conditions in the Quad-Campus area.
A number of my neighbors are proposing that Farragut Drive be closed to through traffic like Stevens Avenue, Malat Way, Rudman Drive and Grayridge Drive along Playa Street. After reading Mr. Maxwell's letter, it sounds like fixing the block-specific problems will be easier than addressing the Quad-Campus traffic safety issues as a whole.
Mr. Heyl may be contacted at john_heyl@sbcglobal.net
