Sunset Park Neighborhood Traffic Plan

The "Traffic Plan for Sunset Park" was adopted more than 10 years ago. Only some parts of it were implemented. Since then,commuter traffic has increased to the point that more and more streets are congested -- both arterials, such as Lincoln, Pico, and Ocean Park Blvd., and residential streets, such as Pearl (from 20th to Centinela), Marine (from 11th to Lincoln), 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, Cloverfield, 28th, etc.





Residential streets are being used as mitigations for traffic from commercial projects. As Pico and Ocean Park Blvd. grind to a halt in the afternoon, business commuters and SMC students are using Pearl St. as an arterial. As Lincoln, Bundy/Centinela, and the 10 and 405 freeways grind to a halt, 23rd/Walgrove and other north-south streets are used as arterials.





The exhaust from idling cars affects air quality, and bumper-to-bumper traffic makes it difficult for local residents to get to and from their homes (and in and out of their driveways). Frustrated drivers speed up and down the few residential streets that aren't congested, and they endanger the safety of all residents, especially the children.





In our 2005 FOSP questionnaire, the thing residents most "disliked" about Sunset Park was traffic. 90\% (286 out of 317 respondents) described traffic in Sunset Park as "congested." 76\% supported a city-funded Traffic Plan focused on reducing cut-through traffic in Sunset Park.





Therefore, we urge you to include funding in the 2007-08 city budget for:





1) implementation of a Sunset Park Traffic Plan,





2) additional traffic enforcement personnel assigned to Sunset Park, especially near schools (Grant, JAMS, Rogers, and SMC),





3) additional crossing guards assigned to Sunset Park schools, and





4) improved signage near Sunset Park schools (such as that on Gateway near Barrington in West L.A.)