At its meeting Tuesday the city council again tackled a traffic issue. This time there were many seats available and not one resident rose to offer an opinion. The issue was traffic congestion and safety along corridor between the bridge and Orange Avenue.
Acting on recommendations by Councilman Richard Bailey, the council voted to extend restrictions on left turns into alleys in the 300 block of A, B and C Avenues for an additional hour, 5-9am and from 2-6pm.
In a separate vote it requested a study to determine whether prohibiting left turns at intersections in the same corridor would improve traffic safety. Both votes were unanimously approved.
Citing a police memo Bailey said that “70% of all accidents in the corridor are related to cross-through traffic and yet cross-through traffic makes up just a small percentage of corridor traffic, according to the Fehrs and Peers report we received in the last council meeting.”
He added that “prohibiting left turns during rush hour would significantly reduce the cross-through traffic and improve safety for everyone traveling the corridor.”
Banning left turn lanes, even for a few hours a day it not a simple matter, because of Proposition M.
It called for removal of traffic semi-diverters at intersection on the three streets and included specific turn restrictions. Changing requires both council and voter approval. The measure passed by 68% in 2004.
The diverters created a parking lot between the bridge and Orange afternoon in the late afternoon and early mornings. Drivers skipped Orange and made their turns on D and E, pushing the traffic onto other cross streets, Mayor Casey Tanaka pointed out.”
Others raised similar concerns.
“I’m not convinced the capacity has changed,” said Councilman Mike Woiwode.
“We would wind up with the same objections by putting the turn restrictions that we had with the semi-diverters.”
Bailey disagreed. He suggested that by extending the left turn lanes on 300 block of Orange the city had greatly increased the capacity and there wouldn’t be the gridlock there was with the semi-diverters from 2002 to 2004.
He called the corridor a “shooting gallery,” and added “restricting left turns is the simplest and most cost-effective solution available.”
It was generally acknowledged before moving forward thata the city would have to do a traffic study and gain public support. Having suffered though wide public disapproval on two other traffic proposals – the multiuse path on Ocean Blvd and the traffic lights on Third and Fourth Street—the council appeared to be moving gingerly.
They will have to move quickly as well. Assuming that the traffic study supports Bailey’s supposition that restricting left turns in the corridor would make it safer, the city would next have to commission an environmental review and hold public workshops. If the left turn restrictions survived this process the council would have to approve an initiative by July 2016 for it appear on the November 2016 ballot.
Library Coffee Cart
The council agreed to spend $48,000 to refurbish and reopen the coffee cart at the library. The cart has had a rocky history, failing to thrive under the two previous owners.
“The first was new to business, the second didn’t have business savvy and went into arrays to take ownership of cart by way of collecting what she owed us,” said Christian Esquevin, Director of Library Services.
Leading Woiwode to ask if the city was “trying to prop up a failing business?”
City manger Blair King admitted that there would be “insufficient revenue to recover investment.”
He did report that the Golf Course Food and Beverage concessionaire had expressed interest in operating the cart. It has the “deep pockets to operate it over an extend period of time.”
Despite the cart’s troubled financial history, it has been popular with library patrons. “Not a service like that in several block area. Mornings at lunch after school its nice service to have,“ Esquevin said. “People still ask when it’s going to open again.”
The council agreed 5-0 to reopen the cart under new management. “Can’t vote fast enough,” said Councilman Bill Sandke. He compared it to the Village Theatre. The city had to invest in it before the theater’s financial fortunes turned around.
In other business the council:
- Approved a four-unit condominium project on the 500 block of Orange Ave.
- Authorized the city manager to apply for a Community Development Block Grant for Americans with Disability Act improvements in Centennial Park.
- Transferred $440,200 from “various operating funds to city employee pension fund.
- Wrote off $7,101,994 the storm drain line of credit and using the remain line of credit to cover storm drain expenses on as needed basis.
- Committed $5.85 million in unspent Community Redevelopment loans to pay for facilities replacement.
- Approved changing a yield sign at the E and Flora Avenues at Isabella to a stop sign.
- All votes were unanimous.
