Stop the Olympic-West Pico-East Initiative! Save Our Small Businesses!
- by: Pico Neighborhood Council
- recipient: Los Angeles Traffic Committee and Mayor Villaraigosa
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
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