Traffic Talks
Factor’s Famous Deli has been serving customers on Pico Boulevard and Beverly Drive for almost 60 years. The restaurant, owned by the Markowitz family, can seat a couple hundred people and provides catering, delivery, and take-out services. Yet the family fears that after half a century the restaurant’s business could be hurt by a plan proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to reduce traffic congestion on Pico and Olympic boulevards,.
“I’m here to oppose the Pico/Olympic traffic plan because I think it’s going to affect business big time,” said Suzee Markowitz before the start of Los Angeles City Council’s Transportation Committee meeting at City Hall. “Nobody’s going to want to visit any business on Olympic or Pico boulevards.”
Close to 30 people representing businesses, homeowners associations, neighborhood councils, and chambers of commerce expressed their indignation over the traffic proposal that aims to ease congestion on Olympic and Pico boulevards while keeping them two-way streets. It delineates three steps as part of a phased approach to improve the traffic flowing to and from Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
The proposal would first end parking on Pico and Olympic boulevards during rush hour and make peak-period parking restrictions consistent; then coordinate the traffic signals so they maximize flow going west on Olympic and east on Pico; and finally change the lanes so the preferred direction has four lanes while the other direction has two.
The third step, which would cost about $1.5 million, would not happen until the first two prove to be successful, according to John Fisher of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
Villaraigosa unveiled the proposal at a press conference November 26, and his deputy mayor said at Monday’s meeting that the mayor recognized that businesses will be affected, but the proposal represents a “balanced approach” that can be abandoned if it is not successful.
“We can reverse this at virtually no cost,” he said.
Community members who addressed the committee criticized the plan for its potential damage to businesses along Pico. “If this would happen, my business would close down,” said one Pico business owner during the public hearing. “Please don’t kill us.”
Many business owners said the plan would destroy the revitalization that is currently underway and has drawn new boutiques, restaurants, and coffee shops along Pico.
“It impacts us more than anyone else because you’re taking away the street parking and ruining the business that is part of the economic revitalization” of the Pico area, said Andrew Westall, senior deputy in Councilmember Herb Wesson’s office. He said – to great applause from the audience – that the plan should be amended so the project does not go east of La Cienega Boulevard. It now reaches La Brea Avenue.
One of the biggest criticisms of the proposal was that business owners and homeowners associations were not involved in the creation of the plan. Jay Handal of the West LA Neighborhood Council and president of the West L.A. Chamber of Commerce said he represents 1,300 businesses, which were all left out of the planning process.
“Insulted – that’s how we feel,” he said. “We heard nothing. We were included in nothing.”
Jay Hyman, the president of the Century City Homeowners Alliance, echoed those remarks and suggested the plan be tabled for a month or longer to allow for more community meetings and involvement.
Councilmember Wendy Greuel, who chaired the meeting, and other politicians responded to the criticisms by maintaining that the committee has sought public comments in the past concerning traffic proposals and had organized the meeting Monday to hear from the community. There will be another meeting in January open to the public, Greuel said.
“This is not the end of the dialogue – it is part of a continuing dialogue,” said Paul Backstrom, representing the office of Councilmember Jack Weiss, who supports the proposal.
Published: 12/07/2007
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