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Time to Penalize Scofflaws Who Thumb Their Cars at School Area Warning Signs

November 22, 2010

125

Mayor Armenta and City Councilmembers,

When the paramedic truck rolled down Farragut Drive and stopped at Coombs Park on Wednesday, Nov. 10, my first thoughts were that either the kids with the padded sticks and poles had injured one of their members or chased somebody in front of car….

I have said previously that I will not sit quietly by and see emergency equipment on Farragut Drive in response to a possibly preventable accident again.

I have first-hand knowledge of the professionalism of our Culver City firefighters. So my hat is off to them. I overheard a conversation that the injury was due to a “bike” accident and not as a result of whatever combat game is being played in Coombs Park. Please note the number of children in the park and the amount of vehicle traffic, especially those rolling through the Stop signs.

I have been told it is hard to gauge the extent of the rolling stops without being able to see the restraining line. The word “Stop” is painted in front of the crosswalks. There are no lines in the neighborhood around me.

A neighbor has told me that the videos I am providing to the City Council have no value for enforcement without the license numbers being visible. Enforcement is something that Culver City Police Dept. should be seeing to. I will continue to point out that there is an ongoing problem in the residential neighborhood around the School District complex that houses Culver City High School, Culver City Middle School, Farragut Elementary School and the CCUSD Office of Child Development.

These videos show vehicles rolling through intersections with posted Stop signs, making U-turns in the posted “No U-Turn” Farragut Drive/Elenda Street intersection and similar “indiscretions.” My opinion is that the drivers do it because they continue to get away with it, despite the efforts of the Police Dept. How bad must it be in Culver City if the CCPD cannot make an example of the area where 4,000 students attend school?

I have been calling the CCPD regularly for several years to enforce the permit parking on my block. The drivers who have ignored the posted “Permit Parking” signs have no expectation of getting a citation, as do those who ignore the “Stop” signs. Let's make it a win/win situation of protecting Culver City and raise a little revenue by issuing citations to the scofflaws.

CCFD paramedic response to Coombs Park, 2010 11 10: