Residents Help Redesign Precarious Stretch of Road

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

May 3 -- From pre-K to college, several hundred students brave a gauntlet of precarious intersections from 14th to 18th streets along Ocean Park Boulevard five days a week.

Combined, the crosswalks have been the site of numerous accidents in the last year alone, according to police, and Sunset Park Neighborhood residents say it is only a matter of time until a crash is fatal or another pedestrian is hit.

Now after years of complaining, nearby residents have finally caught the attention of Santa Monica City officials who are looking to redesign the four-block stretch.

Nearly 50 Sunset Park Neighborhood residents attended the first in a series of community meetings Monday to help redesign the area, which in addition to having schools nearby, includes several popular stores from the 1600 block to the 1800 block which draw additional foot traffic.

“I’m getting tired of watching accidents there,” said a 14th Street resident, referring to the intersection of 14th Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, the site of four separate accidents in the last four weeks.

At an accident two weeks ago, one man’s original pearl-white 1964 Thunderbird handed down by his grandmother was wrecked.

At the latest accident Sunday, two Santa Monica youths were only slightly injured when their car almost T-boned into another car.

Nearly every resident echoed the same concern at the meeting, saying that drivers are breaking the speed limit on a regular basis and endangering pedestrians along each of the intersections.

What to do about it is another story, though.

From doing nothing at all to turning the area into a “mini-Larchmont,” – the area in West Los Angeles famous for its pedestrian culture and sidewalk cafes – residents expressed a long list of changes and improvements that they would like to see.

Foremost on people’s mind was safety.

“I think the area needs to address the issue of speed here,” said one resident.

“People just fly through those stop signs,” said another.

Though the area funnels between 17,000 and 19,000 cars a day, several residents asked for at least two additional stoplights at 16th and 18th streets, as well as a protected left turn at the 14th street light – which City officials acknowledged is the most dangerous of all the area’s intersections.

“I don’t think I have to remind everyone that there’s five schools in the area,” said Colin Maduzia, a resident of Oak Street. “It’s just unsafe.”

Other ideas included additional enforcement to halt people who are driving through stop signs on side streets and increased “crosswalk stings” to catch motorists disobeying crosswalk rules.

Yet an increased police presence may not be a panacea, said Lucy Dyke, the City’s transportation manager.

“We can do enforcement, but it won’t stop all the problems,” she said.

Out of the nearly 40 suggestions generated at the meeting, some were more controversial than others.

Calls to cut Ocean Park from four lanes to two met with some stiff resistance, as did a proposal to insert diagonal parking along the 1600 block of the Ocean Park Boulevard.

Beautification was another topic discussed, with many residents suggesting improvements in graffiti removal, streetscapes behind the stores and signage to alert customers of the parking available behind the businesses.

While the City Council has set aside the money to hire consultants to conduct a study, money has yet to be lined up for any possible changes. City staff estimated it could take nearly eight months to bring recommendations to the council.

Staff assured residents that they would return to capture more public input in coming months.