Speed Humps

CITY HALL — City transportation commissioners this week approved a slate of speed humps requested by residents fed up with motorists speeding through their streets. Residents from three Glendale neighborhoods had petitioned for the speed humps, which they hoped would improve dangerous conditions. “There are people going down that street going 65 mph,” Montrose Avenue resident George Anderson told the Glendale Transportation and Parking Commission on Monday. “We have children playing there …We have to stop this because some kid is going to get run over and killed.” Commissioners approved four speed humps on Montrose Avenue between New York and Pennsylvania avenues, three speed humps on Allen Avenue between Victory Boulevard and Lake Street and two speed humps on Cleveland Road between Glenoaks Boulevard and Zook Drive.

MORE SEWER GROUNDWORK LAID WHAT HAPPENED The City Council approved four items relating to construction of Sewer District 3a -- adopting a boundary map, giving preliminary approval to an engineer's report, setting a public hearing and ordering initiation of ballot procedures. It also awarded two contracts to Ken Thompson Inc. in the amount of $21 million, pending approval of an assessment district, for construction of sewers. WHAT IT MEANS The city will have public hearings for the proposed sewer district on May 15 and 19, and will send information packets about the district, along with voting ballots, to residents.

This is an open letter to Kerry Morford and Jano Baghdanian, requesting permission to enter the Rossmoyne/Mountain traffic-calming plan in the Rube Goldberg Contest for the most elaborate and complex design for achieving the simplest task. Nearly six years ago, residents of the Rossmoyne/Mountain neighborhood approached the city to help with speeding traffic on the streets by installing stop signs at every intersection. We were told by Mr. Morford and company that stop signs were not the answer.

Tim Willert GLENDALE CITY HALL -- After hearing from dozens of impassioned speakers about the pros and cons of traffic-calming measures in the Mountain-Rossmoyne area, the Transportation and Parking Commission failed to come up with a recommendation on the future of the project. About two-thirds of the 49 speakers at Monday's commission meeting voiced opposition to seven temporary traffic circles and 10 speed humps placed throughout the neighborhoods bounded by Mountain Street, Glendale Avenue, Monterey Road and Brand Boulevard.

Tim Willert CALMING TRAFFIC WHAT HAPPENED: The City Council voted to implement phase II of the city's neighborhood traffic calming master plan, which is designed to reduce traffic speeds in the residential area bordered by Brand Boulevard, Mountain Street, Glendale Avenue and Monterey Road. WHAT IT MEANS: The city will construct 10 speed humps and seven traffic circles on a test-case basis. "The traffic circles cause cars to have to slow down and deviate from their straight path, Public Works Director Kerry Morford said.

Sometimes what's in the best interest of one person is not in the best interest of others. That is the concern that was facing the City Council when residents in the Rossmoyne-Mountain area said more steps needed to be taken to slow and reduce traffic in front of their homes. Two years ago, the city put 16 speed humps and five stop signs in the residential neighborhood. The traffic-calming measures have had some effect, but it may have come to the detriment of surrounding neighbors.

I am responding to the letter of former Mayor James Perkins, "Safety Viewed as Selfish." Speed humps are a fact of life for any civilized community that values quality of life and traffic safety for everyone from pedestrians to motorists. Why Perkins is so archaic in his safety views is a mystery. Then, again, maybe it is not such a mystery after all. Here is a resident who proclaims that he has lived in the Rossmoyne area for 40 years, yet freely lets everyone know that he has yet to master the correct name of Mountain Street.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Some residents call Glenoaks Boulevard “The Raceway” due to the number of speeding motorists it attracts. But on Thursday, two teens took the street’s nickname literally — and suffered harsh results. Two 17-year-old boys, whom authorities did not identify, decided to engage in a street race on the long stretch of road traveling at a high rate of speed between lights, Glendale Police Sgt. Peter Pressnall said. When they approached Kenilworth Avenue about 5:27 p.m., one of the boys blew through a red light and crashed with a red Volkswagen Beetle that was headed north on Kenilworth, he said.

Only one genocide lacks recognition This is in response to the letter of Eva Garnier (?Commemorate all genocide victims? May 3). Many writers like Garnier, at various times, have expressed similar sentiments. Although some have ill intent, many simply do not see the obvious. The reason the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust are on a different plane is this: Armenians were murdered because they were Armenians, and Jews were murdered because they were Jews. Both groups were targeted for extermination by the ruling, ethnically and religiously distinct majority, because they were different.