One of the least important matters in the decade old battle of Calle
Medusa has to be the newspaper’s neglect of the great headline: MEDUSANS TURN TO
(Mayor) STONE. Oh well.
The more important matters perhaps require the wisdom of Solomon to
solve traffic troubles like Calle Medusa, Via Cordoba and Calle Pina Colada. At least on
Calle Medusa – a street name that certainly hinted of trouble – it is the
insistence on one solution, at the expense of their neighbors, which keeps this situation
in a rut.
A little history. Since 1991, the issue of closing off Calle Medusa
has been debated. It was one of my first columns. In the intervening years, stop signs
have been erected, alternate route Walcott Lane has been completed, and traffic
enforcement is ever present. Many homeowners sued the Mirada homes developer, winning a
judgment against them for not disclosing Medusa would be such a busy street.
So what have they not tried? Many of the solutions suggested nine
years ago at those traffic commission meetings! There traffic engineers explained traffic
flows at a rate people feel comfortable with. Indeed, that standard is how speed limits
are set, except for top limits, i.e. 70 mph on the freeway. In a residential neighborhood,
the speed is artificially low – at 25 mph, in deference to residents.
Traffic engineers pointed out then, and I am sure many times later,
that to slow traffic, the best method is to encroach upon drivers, making them feel
naturally uncomfortable at higher speeds. How? Stripe the middle of the street. Stripe the
side of the street. Put in the traffic circles tried on Via Cordoba. Put a planted median
down the middle. To all these, Medusans said no. A stripe would bring attention to their
street being “busy” and would lower their home values. Planted medians would
hinder their street parking.
Medusans insist their street become a cul-de-sac – an
arrangement people paid higher prices for on neighboring streets. Their solution does not
solve any problem but only sends traffic onto nearby streets and requires long trips
around for neighboring residents. Calle Medusa is the main feeder street of Hidden Hills.
I lived in the neighborhood for eight years and drove that street at
least ten times a day. It is not outside traffic, it is traffic from the homes therein.
Now that I live nearby, but outside the neighborhood, I use Walcott Lane 99% of time, just
as intended. I avoid the stop signs and attendant police officers on Calle Medusa. At the
very least, Medusans should take responsibility for their own choices – buying a
house on a busy street – by mitigating traffic concerns with lines or medians. A
friend moved to a similar feeder street in Encinitas with landscaped medians and I found
myself driving 15 mph!
Only after Medusans have made these sacrifices and those remedies
have failed, can they legitimately ask their neighbors to sacrifice.