While some say halting traffic through Civic Center Way protects school children, others proclaim the street closure project a traffic nightmare.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to The Malibu Times
A number of Malibuites are up in arms about the temporary closure of Civic Center Way between Winter Canyon and Vista Pacifica roads. They say it has created significant backup on Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon Road by forcing traffic onto PCH.
In response, Realtor Chris Frost of Pritchett-Rapf & Associates, has created a petition to reopen the road, and he says he has gotten dozens of people to sign it.
“We want the road opened tomorrow,” he said. “I haven’t found one person yet who is in favor of this.”
Temporary roadblocks have been set up to create the two barriers for a six-month test. The goal is to eliminate the flow of traffic moving down Civic Center Way toward Malibu Canyon Road, where two schools and a condominium complex exist. Also, if the City Council chooses to permanently close the street, a park will be placed in the middle of it.
“People use Civic Center Way as a way to speed around PCH,” said Planning Commissioner Deirdre Roney, who has a child at Webster Elementary School, one of the two schools near the closure. “It was just dangerous there.”
But Frost said that is not a good enough reason to close a street, comparing the situation to killing a person as a solution for an infected toe. He said it has turned three-minute drives into 15-minute headaches.
But City Maintenance Manager Richard Calvin said that is an exaggeration. “I think it’s a great project,” he said. “It seems to be working quite well.” Calvin said he has been closely monitoring the situation and has not seen the major backups that Frost spoke of. Calvin added that if it is determined the timing of the traffic light at PCH and Malibu Canyon Road needs to be adjusted, then the city will speak to the California Department of Transportation about it.
Frost is not the only person reacting to the situation. Calvin said as of Monday morning, the city has received 209 phone calls and 18 e-mails about the closure. He said he has not looked at them closely enough to determine the ratio of negative to positive responses.
Malibu resident Linda Stark
has created an e-mail address, Reopencivicctr@aol.com, for people to comment on the closure. She said she is receiving about 50 e-mails every few hours, and all of them are against the closure. Stark said she will eventually forward the e-mails to the City Council.
In addition, some local business owners are saying that the closure is reducing the number of customers, with people not wanting to go through the hassle to get to the local restaurants and stores. Guido’s restaurant owner Vassil Pertchinkov estimated he has lost 20 percent of his business. And he said it could get worse.
“Those who are coming now already have plans,” he said. “But they aren’t going to be making plans any longer if they have to spend 15 minutes at a traffic light.”
Those opposed to the project have also said there was no warning about the closure. Frost said it took him totally by surprise, and he has met few people who knew about it in advance.
But Malibu Mayor Ken Kearsley said that is impossible, pointing to a variety of media and signs that were used to inform the populace. “If he didn’t get notified, either he can’t read or he’s deaf,” Kearsley said. “Everybody knew it.”
As for how this will affect emergency vehicles, the Sheriff’s Captain Tom Martin said the station is monitoring the situation. But Division 7 Assistant Fire Chief Reginald Lee said that just prior to the closure, a meeting was held with representatives from the Sheriff’s and Fire departments. He said both departments expressed concerns about the situation.
Lee mentioned one foreseeable problem-if a local fire station is unable to respond to an emergency, and it is designated to another team that must come down Malibu Canyon Road, that can add many seconds to response time since the truck has to go around PCH.
“It’s a liability issue,” Lee said. “Because the first thing that is brought up if there is a serious injury or death is the response time.”
Calvin said he wouldn’t try to challenge Lee’s opinion, adding that the community’s reaction, as well as an in-depth study of the situation, will be taken into consideration before the Public Works Department makes its recommendation to the City Council on whether the closure should be permanent.
Kearsley added that the test could be canceled at any time if that were determined necessary.