Speed Limit

This week a group of residents on Valverde Place hosted a meeting with Glendale Mayor Bob Yousefian to talk about neighborhood issues, including their desire for a stop sign on Roselawn Avenue at Valverde Place. I sent a reporter to cover the meeting, thinking this was another example of local activists getting overly excited about an issue that really isn't an issue. I live nearby, and it didn't seem to me that the intersection was particularly dangerous, or that there was a speeding problem on Roselawn.

California Highway Patrol officers issued nearly five dozen traffic citations this past weekend on the steep and mountainous Angeles Crest Highway in response to reports of speeding motorcyclists and close-call collisions. The enforcement campaign yielded citations for speeding, unsafe passing and other violations as California Highway Patrol officers staked out the 66-mile route popular with motorcyclists eager to test their skills on the roadway's tight curve. Some near-collisions, including skids into oncoming traffic, have been posted on YouTube.

Punishment ought to fit the crime OK. I have stayed quiet for too long, thinking one of our councilmen or another wise person would come up with a way to make our streets safe (“Community seeks traffic safety,” Tuesday). It amazes me the intelligence of the people we vote into office, the committees we form to study issues and the pay we give them for their knowledge and intelligence. I am a 78-year-old female driver, and two plus two has always made four to me, even at this late time in life.

Many thanks to Mark Walcoff for helping get the word out about the problem our neighborhoods face with speeding cars (?It?s time to slow down in Glendale,? Mailbag, Tuesday). People who complain about the measures taken to correct this growing problem ? Carl Watts and Stuart Ray ? (??Stop? sign ?epidemic? is getting out of hand, Community Commentary, March 21, and ?Speed bumps lead down a bad path,? Mailbag, Thursday) must live on cul-de-sacs or love to drive unreasonably fast.

NORTH LOS ANGELES — Speeding motorists have crashed into Fritz Friedman’s home two times in the past six months. No one was in front of his home during the crashes, but he wants something to be done to cut down on speeding. “I know there is no immediate solution,” he said. Assemblyman Paul Krekorian on Thursday made a public push for his Safe Streets Bill in a bid to solve the very speeding problem that Friedman — who joined the assemblyman at the event — has been confronted with twice already.

Condo project raises parking concern Regarding the proposed four-story building at the southwest corner of Broadway and Louise Street ("Condo project is a downtown zoning first," Tuesday, Glendale News-Press): As you are aware, I have written several times about traffic concerns regarding Starbucks on Burchett Street, Americana at Brand, Avalon Apartments on Stocker Street and Central Avenue, Embassy Suites Hotel, on Central and Burchett, and two six-to eight-story condos above retail on the 100 block of Central.

GLENDALE — City officials are hoping to slow down drivers on Chevy Chase Drive, Adams Street and Glenoaks Boulevard. The City Council will consider awarding a $118,000 contract to CSI Electrical Contractor Inc. for the installation of permanent radar-activated speed-display signs at 12 spots along East Chevy Chase Drive, South Adams Street and East Glenoaks Boulevard, in areas that do not qualify for other traffic calming devices like speed...

After observing the increasing fury of some Glendale residents regarding the city's traffic speed studies, I've come to the conclusion: enough is enough! The News-Press needs to explain to people that this is a good thing! To put it simply, the purpose of the California "speed trap" laws is so that the police cannot give someone a ticket for going, say, 29 mph down Kenneth Road. While some may see this as a source of further outrage, they would be hypocrites, because few people drive this speed on that street.