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(July 14, 2020, 7:15 a.m.) -- LB's policy-setting City Council will vote today (July 14) on a citywide and neighborhood policy: whether city management should proceed with controversial traffic-slowing lane-narrowing "road diets," roundabouts, protected bicycle lanes and pedestrian promoting "complete streets" measures citywide.
"We can reduce the risk of collisions on many multi-lane arterials that encourage higher vehicle speeds through roadway reconfigurations, as was done on Broadway, Bellflower Boulevard, and Alamitos Avenue," city management's text says.. It further recites: We have begun to make progress toward Vision Zero by incorporating best practice street safety elements into planning efforts,3 projects,4,5 and educational programming. Recent street safety projects include a pedestrian scramble crossing at Alamitos and Walnut Avenues as well as protected bike lanes on Broadway, Orange Avenue, and Bellflower Boulevard...Additional safety projects were recently implemented on 7th Street, Anaheim Street, and Atlantic Avenue. In 2017, the City of Long Beach was awarded two Vision Zero-focused grants from the State of California’s Office of Traffic Safety to expand bicycle and pedestrian safety education. |
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The agenda item comes over a year after a grassroots uprising over a City Hall-imposed Broadway corridor "road diet," with opposition led by area businessman (now 2nd dist. Reform Ticket Council candidate) Robert Fox, who cited multiple non-fatal accidents, loss of parking in the parking impacted area and economic damages done to area businesses.
In July 2019, city management responded by releasing Broadway corridor accident data subsequently shown (via Public Records requests) to be incomplete or misleading. The "Safe Streets" document lists "Community Members Killed in Traffic Collisions - January 2019 to December 2019" and "High-Injury Corridors and Intersections (2013 - 2017) but doesn't acknowledge or cite data on non-fatal Broadway collisions that Mr. Fox and others attribute to the Broadway road diet's design. . Similar traffic slowing measures have drawn opposition elsewhere. In Los Angeles, some "road diets" were withdrawn after riled residents pursued the recall of an L.A. Council incumbent.
LB 2nd district Council incumbent Jeannine Pearce, heavily criticized by Mr. Fox for having allowed the Broadway road diet to proceed, isn't seeking re-election. In November, 2nd dist. voters will choose between Mr. Fox and Mayor Garcia-endorsed/LBPOA PAC backed candidate Cindy Allen. Opposition also flared to an E. Ocean Blvd. road diet but Councilwoman Suzie Price didn't oppose city management's basic road diet stance...and residents backed down when management agreed to make tweaks at one intersection.
In the 5th Council district, residents objected to unsightly obstructive green bollards installed along a stretch of Studebaker Rd. (which already has two adjacent separated access roads.) Councilwoman Stacy Mungo sought to blame her predecessor but then cast votss supporting extension of the project and others. . In the 4th Council district, Councilman Daryl Supernaw's Los Altos constituents said road diet reconfigurations along Bellflower Blvd. had created traffic congestion. Others questioned City Hall bicycle rider-counts used to justify the Bellflower Blvd. bike lanes and others. Councilman Supernaw hasn't agendized either issue for Council consideration. City management's agendizing memo acknowledges that action on the "Safe Streets" plan isn't time critical, meaning the Council could refer the issue to a Committee or invite public outreach...or simply approve it. [LBREPORT.com is interested in knowing if your Councilmember alerted you to details of the just-released policy setting document on which they may vote today. Let LBREPORT.com know via our Disqus or Facebook platform.]
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