Your front page story and photograph for Thursday, Aug. 28, is disappointing and depressing because so much news is fed to us these days. Print or other mass forms of communication are ‘edited’ to express the opinion of the originator. While we expect that of the New York Times, we do not expect that of our little hometown newspaper.
The front page photo shown on Aug. 28 could be any weekend in Malibu. That is the way the road looks with or without Civic Center Way closed. Or have you not been around on weekends? This is nothing new. I once took pictures of this area of Pacific Coast Highway on a weekend (my condo overlooks almost this exact spot), and it looked very similar to me. Incidentally, all the roads were open at the time.
Starting at 3 p.m., especially during summer months, the traffic driving north is backed up for miles. This is Malibu. One of the answers might be for Caltrans to reset the traffic lights on Malibu Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway to account for this change.
I live in one of the 200 condos on Civic Center Way, and, since the closing, leaving and returning home is much safer for my family and myself. We no longer have to fear that a speeding maniac on Civic Center Way, a road which is clearly marked 25 mph, might smash us to pieces.
I am appalled at the seeming lack of concern for anyone else’s safety from those objecting to the closure. If only one of those selfish motorists reads this, maybe he or she will get the message that those in this area have been breathing easier. I cannot speak for school kids or church members, but I do know that the area’s residents are feeling more comfortable with this awful traffic problem temporarily eliminated.
Marly A. Titus