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Palisades News<br />
November 18, 2015 A forum for open discussion of community issues<br />
Page 7<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
Let’s Keep Swarthmore a Two-Way Street<br />
By BILL BRUNS<br />
Palisades News Adviser<br />
When Palisades Village developer Rick Caruso<br />
met with the Community Council’s land-use<br />
committee on October 29, he referenced his plan<br />
to convert Swarthmore into a one-way street from the alley<br />
<strong>at</strong> City N<strong>at</strong>ional Bank to Monument. He argued th<strong>at</strong> this<br />
would increase available parking by having angled parking<br />
and would make the street safer and more walkable.<br />
Fortun<strong>at</strong>ely, Council member and longtime resident<br />
Sue Kohl recalled an ill-f<strong>at</strong>ed experiment in the 1980s<br />
and asked Caruso, “You are aware th<strong>at</strong> Swarthmore was<br />
one-way and it didn’t work?”<br />
“I didn’t know th<strong>at</strong> past,” he replied, and l<strong>at</strong>er when<br />
asked the same question he said, “If the community<br />
wants it to go two ways, let it.”<br />
As a 43-year resident of the Alphabet Streets<br />
neighborhood, I think we should take Caruso up on<br />
his offer, and get his one-way Swarthmore idea erased<br />
from his plans to redevelop most of the street (along<br />
with Sunset frontage and the outdoor parking lot).<br />
There are drivers in well over 1,000 households in the<br />
Alphabets—from Via de la Paz over to Chautauqua—<br />
Happy Anniversary to the News<br />
I want to wish you and the entire staff a very happy<br />
first anniversary! In an age when print media is becoming<br />
less read, you had the courage to start a brand new<br />
newspaper in November 2014.<br />
Not only th<strong>at</strong>, but it is incredibly wonderful, inform<strong>at</strong>ive,<br />
well researched and open to reader contributions<br />
(Viewpoints). Your articles are timely and contain<br />
accur<strong>at</strong>e inform<strong>at</strong>ion. The Homes & Gardens section<br />
in the November 4 issue was gre<strong>at</strong>. I found the article<br />
on artificial turf really valuable. It’s especially timely<br />
with many of us replacing our w<strong>at</strong>er-hungry lawns.<br />
Thank you again and keep up the gre<strong>at</strong> work!<br />
Barbara Gould<br />
Caruso Project Observ<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
First and foremost, our community is very fortun<strong>at</strong>e<br />
to have the investor/ developer, Rick Caruso, pursue the<br />
re-gentrific<strong>at</strong>ion of the Palisades, and here are three key<br />
reasons to consider:<br />
1. He is a local, a resident of our neighboring<br />
community, Brentwood.<br />
2. Caruso has taken on all the risk, his money, his time<br />
and effort, for all of our benefit.<br />
3. Let’s say it doesn’t work, perhaps five to seven years,<br />
or 10 years from now, well, gee we are back to wh<strong>at</strong> we<br />
have now.<br />
Let’s play the “wh<strong>at</strong> if game,” where we consider<br />
altern<strong>at</strong>e realities and real possibilities:<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> if he did not invest, and instead a consortium<br />
from another st<strong>at</strong>e, or another country had purchased<br />
this property? Bet they could care less wh<strong>at</strong> any locals<br />
thought or wanted.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> if there are 54-60 new businesses in our<br />
neighborhood? Our budding adults could grow with<br />
and up into the hills who would be sorely inconvenienced<br />
by losing Swarthmore as an access street into the village<br />
beyond Sunset. And by having only two options—Via<br />
and Monument—we would add to the congestion on<br />
these streets <strong>at</strong> their Sunset intersections, once Palisades<br />
Village opens.<br />
The l<strong>at</strong>est Caruso Affili<strong>at</strong>ed press release continues to<br />
st<strong>at</strong>e “No traffic impacts,” reiter<strong>at</strong>ing Caruso’s belief th<strong>at</strong><br />
removing the Mobil st<strong>at</strong>ion will equal the traffic impact<br />
of perhaps 54 new businesses, including a specialty<br />
grocer, numerous restaurants and a 300-se<strong>at</strong> movie<br />
the<strong>at</strong>er. This simply makes no sense. If Palisades Village<br />
doesn’t gener<strong>at</strong>e more traffic than a Mobil st<strong>at</strong>ion, I<br />
fear for the project’s economic success.<br />
Given the fact th<strong>at</strong> Via de la Paz <strong>at</strong> the DWP corner<br />
will be more congested when the Shell st<strong>at</strong>ion is replaced<br />
by a busier Mobil st<strong>at</strong>ion and its large convenience store,<br />
and th<strong>at</strong> the Monument-Sunset intersection will be a<br />
nightmare with cars departing the new underground<br />
parking structure, we shouldn’t add traffic to these streets<br />
by elimin<strong>at</strong>ing Swarthmore as an artery into town.<br />
Let’s also consider wh<strong>at</strong> a one-way Swarthmore would<br />
force drivers to do from the Alphabet side of Sunset. If,<br />
for example, they are driving their kids to Village School<br />
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR<br />
the responsibility of having part-time jobs.<br />
Our budding adults, new drivers, would not have to drive<br />
Sunset or PCH to Malibu, Santa Monica, Brentwood,<br />
or Beverly Hills—their entertainment would be here in<br />
our back yard.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> if the restaurants have a liquor license? They<br />
would finally secure a profitable item to sell, making the<br />
business proposition affordable for our growing taxes,<br />
business and regul<strong>at</strong>ion fees, and employee benefit costs.<br />
They could stay in business longer than a couple of years.<br />
It may encourage residents to walk to drink and<br />
dine—gre<strong>at</strong> for reducing traffic and pollutants.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> if there is a parking structure? Oh my gosh, no<br />
more buzzing round and round seeking somewhere to<br />
park—the businesses on Via de la Paz cannot survive with<br />
foot traffic only. Our neighborhood streets would not be<br />
so packed with employee cars parked all day, every day.<br />
Bottom line, to read and hear of any complaints by<br />
folks unwilling to invest and develop this business district<br />
themselves is a bit of folly.<br />
Marjorie “Boofie” Graham<br />
Letter from Councilman Bonin<br />
Your safety is my paramount concern and I take<br />
yesterday’s incident (November 8) extremely seriously.<br />
I am pleased to inform you th<strong>at</strong> we have already made<br />
progress str<strong>at</strong>egically improving the way we protect your<br />
neighborhood. As you know, a few weeks ago, we began<br />
installing no camping/no trespassing signage th<strong>at</strong> allows<br />
enforcement in the area. Earlier today, I spoke with LAPD<br />
Deputy Chief Be<strong>at</strong>rice Girmala, Commanding Officer of<br />
Oper<strong>at</strong>ions West Bureau, and asked th<strong>at</strong> she work with<br />
the <strong>Fire</strong> Department to increase p<strong>at</strong>rols of the canyons<br />
so we can ensure people are not illegally camping and<br />
we can prevent the next fire before it starts.<br />
or Palisades Elementary, they would have to take<br />
Monument across Sunset to La Cruz, navig<strong>at</strong>e an always<br />
crowded street to the Swarthmore intersection, and then<br />
turn left <strong>at</strong> this busy intersection to order to reach their<br />
school drop-off loc<strong>at</strong>ions. The same problem exists in<br />
the afternoon. If people from the Alphabets wanted to<br />
shop or run errands in town below Sunset, they could<br />
only use Monument or Via as they tried to try to find a<br />
place to park in the Antioch/Swarthmore area.<br />
Bottom line: a one-way Swarthmore would prove<br />
inconvenient to hundreds of drivers every day, and it<br />
would increase traffic congestion on Monument and<br />
Via, above and below Sunset. Caruso’s one-way plan<br />
would indeed add parking spaces on Swarthmore with<br />
angled parking, but the same increase could be achieved<br />
with angled parking on a wide, two-way Swarthmore.<br />
And safety issues? I can recall only one serious<br />
car/pedestrian accident on the street in recent decades.<br />
I will appreci<strong>at</strong>e many of the improvements th<strong>at</strong><br />
Caruso Affili<strong>at</strong>ed will bring to Swarthmore and Sunset—<br />
walking to a good movie, having a variety of restaurants<br />
to enjoy, seeing many more residents enjoying the<br />
business district—but let’s keep one tradition from the<br />
1950s: a two-way Swarthmore.<br />
Deputy Chief Girmala sprung into action and working<br />
with West LA Division Captains Tina Nieto and Darryl<br />
Ito, as well as Los Angeles <strong>Fire</strong> Department Chief P<strong>at</strong><br />
Butler, LAPD is immedi<strong>at</strong>ely taking the following actions<br />
to better protect our community:<br />
• LAPD’s Air Support Division’s Special Flights Unit<br />
will photograph the area in detail so we can track<br />
enforcement efforts and develop actions plans.<br />
• LAPD will p<strong>at</strong>rol the area a minimum of twice daily.<br />
Deputy Chief Girmala has committed to me th<strong>at</strong> she<br />
will personally review p<strong>at</strong>rol logs to ensure these p<strong>at</strong>rols<br />
are taking place.<br />
• LAPD will prepare and distribute inform<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
flyers warning of increased enforcement efforts to come<br />
and the LAPD’s intent to conduct a robust cit<strong>at</strong>ion and<br />
arrest program for viol<strong>at</strong>ors.<br />
• LAPD West Division’s transient detail will increase<br />
focus on the area.<br />
• Planning has begun for several LAPD Task Force<br />
oper<strong>at</strong>ions to be conducted in conjunction with the<br />
Department of Recre<strong>at</strong>ion and Parks, Park Rangers, the<br />
<strong>Fire</strong> Department and social service providers. These<br />
oper<strong>at</strong>ions will help connect people illegally camping in<br />
canyons with available resources.<br />
In addition to these immedi<strong>at</strong>e actions by LAPD, I<br />
am also working with LAFD Deputy Chief Butler, the<br />
Pacific Palisades Homelessness Task Force, park rangers<br />
and priv<strong>at</strong>e security to develop an even more robust<br />
system to p<strong>at</strong>rol and keep these areas clear.<br />
Councilman Mike Bonin<br />
Palisades News welcomes all letters, which may be mailed to<br />
spascoe@palisadesnews.com. Please include a name, address<br />
and telephone number so we may reach you. Letters do not<br />
necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Palisades News.