Stop the Olympic-West Pico-East Initiative! Save Our Small Businesses!
In an effort to increase the flow of traffic in our area, Mayor Villaraigosa wants to implement his traffic initiative that will convert Pico & Olympic Blvds. into predominantly one-way streets, virtually elminating curbside parking and threatening the survival of our local small businesses.
The PICO Neighborhood Council OPPOSES this initiative. The survival our small businesses and continued area growth demand that we oppose this action!!
Proposal Summary
The plan is to be implemented in 3 phases.
Phase I - Peak Hours Curbside Lane Access. Starting January 2008, Pico and Olympic Blvds. will not have curbside parking from La Brea to Centinella during rush hours, 7a.m.-10a.m. and 3p.m.-7.p.m. (a distance of 7.1 miles).
Phase II - Directional Signal Operating. After an unstated timeframe of evaluation of Phase I, traffic lights will be synchronized and timed to favor a specific direction for each boulevard, eastbound for Pico and westbound for Olympic. This alternative is considered experimental and has not been tried in the U.S., according to the L.A. DOT report.
Phase III - Preferential Directional Flow Operation. After an unstated timeframe of evaluation of Phase II, Pico and Olympic Blvds. will be restriped to favor specific directions, eastbound for Pico and westbound for Olympic, with only 1 lane for opposing traffic to be accessed by busses and residents. This alternative is considered experimental and has not been tried in the U.S., according to the L.A. DOT report.
Points of Opposition
* Decrease in revenues for small businesses.
* No parking for business customers during rush hour.
* No study done on the economic impact to small businesses.
* Increased traffic and parking congestion on residential streets.
* No decrease in traffic, just higher volume of cars.
* Loss of left turn lanes and inconvenience to local residents.
* Inadequate testing and data extrapolation in DOT study.
* Increased accidents due to confusion during rush hours.
* Increase in towing and parking fines.
* Neighborhood will feel like a highway.
All this to save 6 minutes???
The Mayor%u2019s Press Release of the Olympic-West Pico-East Traffic Initiative can be found at: Mayor's Press Release
The Department of Transportation report can be read in its entirety at:
DOT Report
In an effort to increase the flow of traffic in our area, Mayor Villaraigosa wants to implement his traffic initiative that will convert Pico & Olympic Blvds. into predominantly one-way streets, virtually elminating curbside parking and threatening the survival of our local small businesses.
The PICO Neighborhood Council OPPOSES this initiative. The survival our small businesses and continued area growth demand that we oppose this action!!
Proposal Summary
The plan is to be implemented in 3 phases.
Phase I - Peak Hours Curbside Lane Access. Starting January 2008, Pico and Olympic Blvds. will not have curbside parking from La Brea to Centinella during rush hours, 7a.m.-10a.m. and 3p.m.-7.p.m. (a distance of 7.1 miles).
Phase II - Directional Signal Operating. After an unstated timeframe of evaluation of Phase I, traffic lights will be synchronized and timed to favor a specific direction for each boulevard, eastbound for Pico and westbound for Olympic. This alternative is considered experimental and has not been tried in the U.S., according to the L.A. DOT report.
Phase III - Preferential Directional Flow Operation. After an unstated timeframe of evaluation of Phase II, Pico and Olympic Blvds. will be restriped to favor specific directions, eastbound for Pico and westbound for Olympic, with only 1 lane for opposing traffic to be accessed by busses and residents. This alternative is considered experimental and has not been tried in the U.S., according to the L.A. DOT report.
Points of Opposition
* Decrease in revenues for small businesses.
* No parking for business customers during rush hour.
* No study done on the economic impact to small businesses.
* Increased traffic and parking congestion on residential streets.
* No decrease in traffic, just higher volume of cars.
* Loss of left turn lanes and inconvenience to local residents.
* Inadequate testing and data extrapolation in DOT study.
* Increased accidents due to confusion during rush hours.
* Increase in towing and parking fines.
* Neighborhood will feel like a highway.
All this to save 6 minutes???
The Mayor%u2019s Press Release of the Olympic-West Pico-East Traffic Initiative can be found at: Mayor's Press Release
The Department of Transportation report can be read in its entirety at:
DOT Report
To the Los Angeles Traffic Committee and Mayor Villaraigosa:
Although we appreciate the efforts to improve traffic conditions in Los Angeles, we the undersigned oppose the Oympic-West Pico-East Traffic Initiative for the following reasons.
* Decrease in revenues for small businesses.
* No parking for business customers during rush hour.
* No study done on the economic impact to small businesses.
* Increased traffic and parking congestion on residential streets.
* No decrease in traffic, just higher volume of cars.
* Loss of left turn lanes and inconvenience to local residents.
* Inadequate testing and data extrapolation in DOT study.
* Increased accidents due to confusion during rush hours.
* Increase in towing and parking fines.
* Neighborhood will feel like a highway.
Our local small businesses do not have the luxury of signficant customer off-street parking thereby they will realize a 20%-40% decrease in revenues due to a 3-6hr reduction in curbside parking during peak hours. In this economic downturn, this could cause a significant number of businesses to close and negate all the positive growth in the area (as mentioned in November's issue of Los Angeles Magazine).
Our area is unlike our neighboring councils in that they have substantial off-street parking to the rear of many establishments. Pico Blvd. between La Brea and La Cienega was not developed in the same manner. The livelihoods of our business depend on curbside parking. We have cafes, dry cleaners, bodyshops, curio shops, kindercare and other like-kind businesses that depend on the patronage of customers during peak hours.
Per the DOT report, only a limited study of the area was made west of La Cienega and did not take into account the servere limitations in parking the differentiated development to the east (LaBrea and LaCienega).
We ask that you stop the implementation of the initiative or amend the plan to carve out the area between La Brea and LaCienega. We also welcome the exploration of developing desperately needed parking alternatives in our area.
Thank you for attention to this most urgent matter.
Sincerely,
The Petition Signers
|
8:39 am PDT, Apr 8,
FreeSpirit Running, Florida
Everyone in this world deserves a chance to profit. No matter if they are a small business or not. |
I live on a street with limted parking .
this will lead to further dissecting of our communities, creating an unfriendly place for residents and pedestrians
It will make Saturn a side street and people will use that to by pass Pico.
As a resident between Pico and Olympic, I am against this initiative as it will turn my quiet residential street into a parking lot. It will decrease my home value and turn my neighborhood into a freeway.
We are a small school located at 11805 Pico Blvd. Parking is very difficult as is and no parking would be terrible. Also, the increase of traffic intensity and safety issues.
Very much.
Don't turn Pico/Olympic into psuedo-highways by making them one-way streets. It would be a nightmare for residents.
This will not solve the traffic problem!!! It will only make it worse, and it will be more dangerous. Do you really want an SUV traveling 90 mph on Olympic?!?! It's already bad enough that they zoom by at 70 MPH.
It won't particularly impact me. I just hate to see people do stupid things instead of smart things. Century City and Fox has 38,000 employees who come and go to and from work each day. Closing off Motor Avenue is insane. One half of all employees need to go North/South, but the south-bound employees are forced to go East/West for more than a mile because of privileged people on Motor who want a private street. It's like people who bought property near the airport complaining about the noise.
Traffic on Pico and Olympic is already bumper to bumper during all rush hours, as is La Cienega. This will not solve the problem - it will exacerbate it.
This does not make any sense to me. La Cienega, Fairfax, La Brea, these are streets that need some type of help. Pico and Olympic are two of the few streets you can drive on to avoid traffic.
I will be closing my shop. Adam's Music 20 years at same location. without street parking!
I will be closing my shop. Adam's Music 20 years at same location. without street parking!
I'm concerned that these proposals will hurt small business. Where will customers park?
This traffic initiative negatively impact my coming in and out of my neighborhood at the corner of Windsor and Pico.
We live on this street and try to cross it daily; we've seen women trying to cross drop their children in the street stumbling to miss the traffic already. Why would you speed up that hazard without providing safe passage? You just invested millions in beautifying Pico with medians, trees and better sidewalks.
We need a real SUBWAY. Bite the bullet and fund it. End of story.
Increased smog,noise, and traffic dangers. Less convenience as business will be driven out.
Traffic speeding between Pico and Olympic is already a problem. How much time will actually be saved in commuting despite the inconvenience to those of us located on and between Pick & Olympic? Why doesn't the city look at controlling traffic directly on Olympic and Pico? I come from San Francisco where they have an intersection grid system: a grid is painted in the intersection. If your car is in the intersection when the light changes, your car is photographed and you get a ticket for blocking traffic. This is great in reducing gridlock. They should also have more No Turn on Red signs. There are so many more options that haven't been explored.
I like to walk my dogs with my two daughters around the neighborhood. Cars speeding up to 50 mph on Olympic will not feel safe.
I own Jamaica's Cakes, in West Los Angeles. I also live 5 blocks away. Our sales will go down by approximately 40%, and it will not fix the problem. Time the lights, and that's IT, while we look for a long-term solution.
It will be a possibly lethal blow to my new small business, as well as not fix the problem.
Please allow our slowly improving neighborhood to continue to blossom rather than become a thru traffic drive by neighborhood.
Gas prices are high enough without having to drive blocks north in order to head east. Seems pretty eco-UNaware.
This will make it far more difficult for me to go to and from work. It will also Increase traffic coming down my street since we are between the two affected street. With all the confusion it will create, I cannot see how it can possibly improve traffic, either.
My neighborhood will be severly impacted by cut through traffic.
This would greatly increase traffic in my area as I live between Pico and Olympic, on the corner of Olympic and La Cienega. I already have a hard time getting out of my garage's driveway so to increase traffic on both ends would be extremely detrimental!!
It will be a giant pain in the a**
One of the reasons my family and I moved into the Wishire Vista neighborhood was because of the revitalized commercial corridor within a stone's throw of our home. Our bakery is just down the street. Restaurants are pedestrian accessible and mom and pop shops abound. To see all of that threatened by a misguided attempt to ease traffic congestion -- especially without a meaningful period of debate and analysis -- is disturbing to say the least. It is our neighborhood. We, as voting and tax-paying citizens, deserve more.
I don't want to see L.A. residential streets become miniature freeways. A city has plenty of on-street parking, not a surburban enclave. We don't need more parking garages/lots taking precious space that could be used for a nice residential/office bldg.
This policy will make me drive to Century City instead of taking the 728 Rapid. Your just encouraging more driving by making roads more efficient than public transportation.
These are neighborhoods along both Pico and Olympic, not turnpikes. Transportation is merely one component of a more complex amalgam. This proposal excessively prioritizes commute efficiency. The consequences and impacts created by this proposal could be worst than the symptom it is meant to cure.
I live near a stretch of Pico Blvd. that runs from La Brea to Robertson that is already well establish with unique restaurants and stores like Roscoe's, Oki Dogs, Bloom, etc. Two separate lines of the Blue Bus runs along Pico, so I can easily travel to any destination by foot. When this becomes one way traffic per the proposal, would I have to transfer to Olympic in order to go back the other way? Simplistic and facile solutions to complex and difficult problems are usually a result of useless lipservice by pandering politicians.
As a former business owner along the Pico Corridor, I am aware of the importance of accessible parking for the many small retail businesses along the boulevard. Small businesses along the corridor already face challenges in trying to attract customers away from large retail centers. Yet the kind of businesses flourishing along the corridor are those that help to enhance the quality of life for the local residents. This proposal will kill retail along Pico. I would urge locals to remember the impact of the sewer line repairs a couple of years ago which only blocked streets for a couple of blocks, yet where enough to deter people from stopping at a business on the wrong side of the street. I had a sharp decline in my business during this period, and thankfully it only lasted a short time. I hope that the current business owners in the area will not have to deal with this proposed situation, which can significantly harm their chances for success. Mid-City residents deserve more than to have their neighborhood turned into a freeway and to drive out their local businesses. It is not right for Westsiders and Downtowners to burden Mid-City residents for the lifestyle they have chosen which subjects them to this commute. Perhaps a better solution would be a change in those lifestyles.
