By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Two dozen residents of the Canals neighborhood spoke out at the Tuesday night, April 16 city council meeting as the council prepared to vote on the direction change of Clark Street.
Changing Clark Street means Curley Street will be the only northbound canal street east of Pacific Boulevard. When the street direction on Clark is changed May 1, residents who live on Farrell, Vinton, Clark and Harmon streets will travel north on Pacific Boulevard and then north on Curley to get to their homes. Normally, those residents could go north on Neptune Boulevard and head east on East Pine Street, but that path is blocked by the Heron Street bridge construction that is on-going.
I don't want Park Avenue style-traffic on my block, Curley Street resident Dan Dickerson said.
Curley Street residents signed a petition to stop the city from changing Clark Street's direction until a viable solution could be found.
The council, though, unanimously approved the resolution, citing the safety hazard at the corner of Clark and Pine as something that must be changed. The dangers of the limited visibility exiting Clark onto Pine that was created by the new bridge's stone rail has been universally agreed upon. But residents on Curley Street feel the city is shuffling the bridge problem over to them. Increased traffic and the safety of the children head their list of complaints.
The city council, though, is taking a wait and see attitude, partially under the advice of Sgt. Gene Brown, the LBPD's traffic division head, who expects to conduct thorough studies of the canal blocks affected by the change in traffic flow soon after Clark Street is changed. Any further action by the council, he said, ought to be made based on scientific data.
A recent traffic study on Clark Street, conducted by Sgt. Brown, brought in surprising results.
I originally believed that Clark Street was less traveled than what it was, Brown said.
Based on the results of the previous study, Brown plans to accurately scientifically track the change in traffic patterns after May 1. In order to find a solution to the problem, Brown wants to base his decision on fact rather than opinion. The study would take one week to complete.
But residents feel they shouldn't have to wait for a problem and that the city should just fix the bridge and eliminate the visibility problem at Clark and Pine that way. Since many children use the Long Beach Auxiliary Police alley at Curley Street as a short-cut into the canals, residents worry about the dangers of increased traffic on that street.
An increase of cars poses a danger, Curley Street resident Donna O'Connor said. They'll go faster. It's going to be a nightmare. It's going to be really terrible.
Also, some residents say they've seen children walking on top of the stone ledge rail on the new bridge, furthering their argument that the bridge, not the traffic, should be changed.
Many residents want to see the bridge altered. It's their simple belief of when you identify the problem, you will find a solution.
Modify the bridge, canal resident Rick Stutz said. That's the simple solution.
