Santa Monica Boulevard Project (SMBP) Update:
Date Posted: January 10, 2006

In order to address deviations from the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) that not only negatively impact Little Overland Avenue, but also every community to the north and south of the entire SMBP, members of the OAC have been working side by side with Tract 7260 Homeowners Association, Westwood Homeowners Association, Century Westwood Watch and Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association, as a coalition, to discuss and address the problems caused by the SMBP and to deal with SMBP Officials, as well as the appropriate City Officials, as one collective voice in an attempt to protect all of our neighborhoods.

As of November 30, 2005, the coalition met with both SMBP Officials and City Officials on three separate occasions (08/23/05, 09/09/05 and 09/30/05) in an attempt to correct project flaws.  The results of those meetings as they pertain to Little Overland Avenue are as follows: 

The Department of Transportation (DOT) agreed to reduce the size of the left turn pocket from westbound Little Santa Monica Boulevard onto southbound Little Overland Avenue from two blocks in length to less than half a block.

The DOT agreed to modify the freeway-style directional sign along westbound Little Santa Monica Boulevard that directs traffic onto southbound Little Overland Avenue or back up to Big Santa Monica Boulevard by reducing its size to the minimum allowable by transportation regulations and by deleting the portion of the sign referring to Overland Avenue and showing the southbound left turn movement. 

The DOT agreed to close off westbound access to Little Santa Monica Boulevard at Beverly Glen Boulevard to ensure that there will only be local access on Little Santa Monica Boulevard, rather than allowing unsafe commuter traffic to cut through the neighborhood.  Note:  Little Santa Monica Boulevard (aka the South Frontage Road) will still have lanes traveling east and west from Pandora Avenue to Little Overland Avenue and have eastbound access to Big Santa Monica Boulevard and southbound Beverly Glen Boulevard. 

The DOT refuses to implement any traffic mitigations on Little Overland Avenue as called for in the FEIR.  To date, any traffic mitigations on Little Overland Avenue are the result of OAC efforts and not part of the SMBP proposed mitigations.

The DOT refuses to modify the freeway-style directional sign along eastbound Big Santa Monica Boulevard that directs traffic onto southbound Little Overland Avenue.  The proposed sign will read “South Frontage Road, Overland Avenue, Local Access.”  The residents have unsuccessfully requested the sign be reduced in size and that the sign read “South Frontage Road, Local Access” or “South Frontage Road, 10400 – 10800 Santa Monica Boulevard, Local Access.”   

In addition, to address our coalition’s concerns regarding the Changeable Message Signs (CMS), Councilmember Jack Weiss introduced a motion to remove the CMS from the SMBP.

To see the motion go to www.tract7260.org

Despite the fact that each and every one of the neighborhood associations bordering Santa Monica Boulevard as well as Councilmember Weiss’ office oppose these signs, DOT nonetheless insists on installing the CMS on Santa Monica Boulevard.

For more details about the SMBP and coalition progress, please read our past articles and go to www.tract7260.org, click on the “Archives” section and scroll down to “Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway.”

Crosswalks Next To School Improved:
Date Posted: January 10, 2006

In or about early November 2005, DOT added zebra striping to the previously repainted crosswalks on Overland Ave. next to Westwood Charter Elementary School in order to improve the visibility of the intersection and make it safer for the students crossing the street.

Sign Installed Finally:
Date Posted: January 10, 2006

On September 2, 2005, the Department of Transportation installed the last of the requested “School Ahead” signs on the 2200 block of Little Overland Avenue.

Crosswalks At Overland and Tennessee Finally Installed:
Date Posted: January 10, 2006

On August 6, 2005, long awaited and badly needed marked crosswalks were installed to increase pedestrian safety at the intersection of Overland Avenue and Tennessee Avenue.

The Santa Monica Boulevard Project (“SMBP”), located at the north end of Little Overland Avenue, is currently designed and expected to dump a conservatively estimated 400 additional cars per hour onto our street as wells as increasing the amount of cut through traffic on the adjacent streets within the neighboring areas. The SMBP will, literally at every turn, encourage unsafe traffic onto Little Overland Avenue. At all times, there will be 8 different signal phases at the double intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Little Overland Avenue during which vehicles are directed to use our narrow residential street. Please visit http://www.overlandave.org/smb-phasing/phasing.html for a detailed diagrams that clearly explain this planned phenomenon. In addition, please visit http://www.overlandave.org/smb-intro/saveoverland.htm for a detailed Power Point presentation of the impact the SMBP will have on Little Overland Avenue.

As if the signal phasing wasn’t bad enough, the SMBP will also have freeway size signs directing unsafe traffic from Santa Monica Boulevard onto Little Overland Avenue. For a detailed rendering of what the signs will look like and account of our collective efforts, please visit the website of the Homeowners Association for Tract 7260 at www.tract7260.org.

Periodically, the SMBP hosts a series of Open Houses to show off and discuss SMBP design plans, to discuss the project’s progress or lack thereof and to answer questions members of the community might have about the project. The next Open Houses will take place on July 21st, 2005 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with briefings to take place at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Open Houses are held at the SMBP offices located at 10350 Santa Monica Blvd., 1st Floor, which is at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Benecia Avenue. All residents from Little Overland Avenue and the neighboring area are urged to attend the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. briefings to voice our objections and to protest the manner in which the SMBP is designed to negatively impact our quality of life and the safety of our street and the entire surrounding community.

To: wtanda@dot.lacity.org
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 11:31 PM
Subject:NBC Coverage of Little Overland Avenue

Dear Mr. Tanda,

As you are aware, on Friday, June 10, 2005, during the 5:30 p.m. newscast, NBC Channel 4’s reporter David Cruz aired a news segment about the struggles of Little Overland Avenue residents to make our street a safer place for our children, our visitors, and the surrounding community.

It is my understanding from NBC reporter David Cruz that he spoke to you regarding the Department of Transportation’s efforts to mitigate traffic on Little Overland Avenue. According to Mr. Cruz, you stated that the Department of Transportation had “(1) [R]ecommended downgrading the street, (2) [H]ad given the residents everything they asked for, (3) [A]re considering speed bumps, and (4) [T]hat to do more would divert traffic to other streets.”

On behalf of the residents of Little Overland Avenue, we would like to set the record straight:

First, the Department of Transportation continuously and vigorously opposed the re-designation and downgrading of Little Overland Avenue from a secondary highway to a collector street. It has been the Department of Transportation’s position that the street should be widened -- despite such a prohibition which was put in place in the West Los Angeles Community Plan more than 34 years ago. Specifically, in a letter to Councilmember Jack Weiss dated as recently as August 31, 2004, Department of Transportation Principal Transportation Engineer Glenn Ogura stated: "...[T]o meet the ultimate performance criteria, full right-of-way dedication along with roadway widening would be required to improve this portion of Overland Avenue to the ultimate secondary highway standard width, which would accommodate four full-time through lanes and a left-turn lane..." Further, in response to the Motion to Re-Designate and Downgrade Little Overland Avenue, you prepared an Inter-Departmental Correspondence, dated October 5, 2004, which recommended “DOT…. establish a consensus cross section for a Modified Secondary Highway, which could be less wide than a standard Secondary Highway, but wider than a standard Collector Street and still serve the traffic demands of a Secondary Highway within contextual design goals for this section of Overland Avenue.” Additionally, there are other documents and the transcripts of the City Council Transportation committee hearings which also support the true position of the Department of Transportation on this issue.

Second, the Department of Transportation has not given the residents “everything they have asked for.” To the contrary, individual residents have notified the Department of Transportation regarding their concerns about safety on Little Overland Avenue and these concerns largely fell upon deaf ears. Despite reporting to the Department of Transportation about various traffic accidents, including a particularly serious accident whereby a mini-van overturned one half a block from Westwood Charter Elementary School, as well as the tragic death of our neighbor Richard Rowan, the residents of Little Overland Avenue worked with representatives of the Department of Transportation for more than six months without any results before having to involve our local elected officials, councilmember Jack Weiss and then councilmember (now mayor-elect) Villaraigosa. It was only by working with our local elected officials were we able to obtain re-designation of Little Overland Avenue and the implementation of two stop signs at the intersection of Overland Avenue and Tennessee Avenue. Rather than supporting our requests, representatives of the Department of Transportation appeared at all of the Transportation Committee hearings prepared to strongly oppose our efforts to re-designate and downgrade Little Overland Avenue. Notwithstanding this opposition by the Department of Transportation, the motion to re-designate was unanimously approved by the entire City Council in December, 2004. In the motion to re-designate, the language specifically states that additional traffic mitigation and safety measures would be implemented. In fact, some of the proposed traffic mitigation and safety measures (marked crosswalks at Overland Avenue and Tennessee Avenue, the removal of the westbound left turn arrow on Olympic Boulevard at Overland Avenue and the installation of speed tables/bumps) have been specifically referred to as “gizmos” by our own Councilman Weiss. Yet, to date, there are no marked crosswalks at Overland Avenue and Tennessee Avenue, the left turn arrow continues to permit 12 to 15 cars per cycle to turn on to our street and, to our knowledge, no speed tables/bumps are anticipated. It has been a year and eight months since we began requesting these specific traffic safety measures and more than six months since the entire City Council voted unanimously to re-designate and directed your department to implement traffic calming measures accordingly. Even Mr. Cruz pointed out to us how the Department of Transportation has removed left turn pockets and installed “No Left Turn” signs during peak hours along Melrose Avenue as part of mitigation efforts for a community east of us (Hancock Park) to protect it from the very problems we continue to suffer. Thus, we question: “How it could be the position of the Department of Transportation that the residents of Little Overland Avenue have been provided all of the traffic mitigation and safety measures that have been requested?”

Third, it was a surprise to hear that the Department of Transportation is considering the implementation of speed tables/bumps for Little Overland Avenue. Up to this point, the residents had been told numerous times by representatives of the Department of Transportation that speed tables/bumps were not being considered for our street. Nonetheless, we are extremely pleased at this consideration and the residents of Little Overland Avenue would like to be immediately approved for speed tables/bumps. Upon such approval, each block would obtain the requisite petition signatures in support of such a measure for the individual blocks between Santa Monica Boulevard and Pico Boulevard. As this has been a remarkable change in position for the Department of Transportation, please provide us with any information regarding the approval of speed tables/bumps for Little Overland Avenue.

Fourth, the residents of Little Overland Avenue disagree with your statement that to implement any additional traffic mitigation and safety measure would divert traffic to other streets. As proven by research performed by the Department of Transportation, our street is already at capacity with 19,000 cars per day. The Department of Transportation has admittedly encouraged as much traffic as possible down our street, thereby creating the current unsafe conditions. Due to the current over-capacity of vehicles traveling down Little Overland Avenue, traffic is already being diverted on its own to the adjacent neighborhood streets. To protect the parallel east and west streets surrounding Little Overland Avenue from currently existing diverted traffic, speed bumps have been installed and therefore those streets have already received their protection for such diversion – to the continued detriment of Little Overland Avenue. In discussing diversion of traffic with Mr. Cruz, you did not inform Mr. Cruz that the Santa Monica Boulevard Project (“the Project”) at the north end of Little Overland Avenue is designed and expected to dump a conservatively estimated *400 additional cars per day onto our street. In fact, the problems that the Project will cause Little Overland Avenue are so significant that the Final Environmental Impact Report (“FEIR”) specifically mentions Overland Avenue by name as one of the streets needing pre, during and post construction traffic calming measures --- none of which we have seen to date. Despite an agreed-upon design plan for the Project by the City with affected communities, you also didn’t tell Mr. Cruz that there have been several significant post FEIR design changes to the Project, including the installation of freeway size signs directing traffic to use Little Overland Avenue and the creation of an additional through traffic lane between Little Overland Avenue and Beverly Glen Boulevard that funnels traffic along this “frontage road” onto our street.

Due to the obviously disparate viewpoints over the positions, status and benefits of traffic mitigation and safety measures for Little Overland Avenue, we would encourage an independent, third party audit of the Department of Transportation’s efforts regarding Little Overland Avenue as well as an independent, third party audit of the Santa Monica Boulevard Project regarding the deviations from the Final Environmental Impact Report which will have a significant negative impact on our street and our community. Moreover, we believe that the Project should also be audited as to where all the mitigation money has gone; specifically, the spending of almost all of the $400,000 pre/during construction mitigation funds on cost over-runs rather than mitigations, and the community is concerned that the City intends to do the same with the $700,000 post construction mitigation fund.

We understand that traffic in Los Angeles is here to stay and that it is only going to get worse as density increases. We accept this as the truth. As a result, we expect that the Department of Transportation take the approach of moving this traffic SAFELY as opposed to simply moving traffic. However, we are in despair over the current plans of the Santa Monica Boulevard Project, as well as the lack of implementation of any of the anticipated traffic calming and safety measures by the Department of Transportation despite the passage of the Motion for Re-Designation which was unanimously approved by the City Council more than six months ago. The seriousness of this problem is highlighted by the fact that NBC reporter David Cruz located our grassroots organization and dedicated a news segment on our efforts.

We look forward to hearing from the Department of Transportation about the immediacy of implementation of the traffic mitigation and safety measures intended by the motion to re-designate, as well as the anticipated approval of speed bumps/tables for our street.

Sincerely,

Arturo Martinez
Little Overland Avenue Resident
www.overlandave.org

* Note: The original email misstated the figure. The actual figure is 400 additional cars per HOUR, not per DAY.

On Friday, June 10, 2005, on NBC Channel 4’s most watched newscast, as the lead news story for the 5:30 p.m. broadcast, reporter David Cruz aired an entire news segment regarding the efforts of Little Overland Avenue residents to make our street a safer place for our children, our visitors, and the surrounding community.

According to reporter Cruz, he located our grassroots organization after having seen an article about our plight in a local West Los Angeles newspaper. Our problem is apparently significantly serious enough that, not only did he dedicate an entire news segment on our efforts, but he also spent several hours researching the issues involved through resident interviews and by taping footage in preparation for his news piece.

The residents of Little Overland Avenue would like to commend and thank NBC reporter David Cruz for readily understanding and taking the time to highlight our continuing concerns as well as for bringing these safety issues to the forefront of public awareness.

As if the change in traffic patterns with the completion of the 2000 Avenue of the Stars (Trammel Crow) Project isn’t bad enough, wait until the Santa Monica Boulevard Project (SMBP) is completed. Members of the Overland Avenue Community (OAC) researching the SMBP recently discovered numerous deviations from the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). These deviations from the FEIR not only negatively impact Little Overland Avenue, but also every community to the north and south of the entire SMBP. As a result, members of the OAC have been working side by side with Tract 7260 Homeowners Association, Westwood Homeowners Association, Century Westwood Watch and Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association to discuss and address the problems caused by the SMBP and to deal with SMBP Officials, as well as the appropriate City Officials, as one collective voice in an attempt to protect all of our neighborhoods.

Recent discoveries include: (1) The SMBP FEIR listed Overland Avenue as the one street that would bear the biggest traffic burden; (2) Funds were specifically allocated to Overland Avenue between Santa Monica Boulevard and Pico Boulevard for traffic mitigations and yet Overland Avenue has received NONE of the pre-construction mitigation funds that were set aside for the street; (3) Pre-construction and during construction mitigation funds have been diverted by the SMBP personnel elsewhere, but they are unable and refuse to account for the funds; (4) The SMBP FEIR indicated only one westbound lane on Little Santa Monica/South Frontage Road would exist; however, currently SMBP intends to construct two westbound lanes which effectively creates a two block long left turn pocket on to Overland Avenue (DOT traffic studies show that the expected volume of traffic will be so immense on Little Santa Monica/South Frontage Road that a single westbound lane would create a queue five blocks long); and (5) The completion date, originally set for August, 2005 has been extended and the construction will not be complete until mid-2006. For a detailed account of our collective efforts and discoveries please visit our neighbors Tract 7260’s website at www.tract7260.org.

The SMBP periodically hosts Open Houses to show off and discuss SMBP design plans, to discuss the project’s progress or lack thereof and to answer questions members of the community might have about the project. The next Open Houses will take place on June 16th, 2005 and on July 21st, 2005 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with briefings to take place at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. The Open Houses are held at the SMBP offices located at 10350 Santa Monica Blvd., 1st Floor which is at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Benecia Avenue. All residents are urged to attend these meetings and ask questions.

On June 15, 2005, Tract 7260 Homeowners Association held their annual meeting. During that meeting, several member residents asked guest speaker County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky about Little Overland Avenue. County Supervisor Yaroslavsky responded by saying "we wanted to widen it to a four lane street but the residents objected and wanted to keep it residential.” County Supervisor Yaroslavsky further stated that Little Overland Avenue "[was] going to stay the same. There are people who live in single family homes there." Moreover, County Supervisor Yaroslavsky mentioned that the City Council office was working hard to keep traffic down for the sake of safety to the residents, that the residents got stop signs at Overland Avenue and Tennessee Avenue, that maybe the signals will be changed, and that maybe Little Overland Avenue will get speed bumps. He finished the topic with "it's going to stay two lanes and residential," which received a resounding applause from meeting attendees.

Additionally, at the annual meeting, there were various discussions regarding the Century City development, the Santa Monica Blvd. Project (SMBP) and the surrounding community traffic issues, including those affecting Little Overland Avenue. Little Overland Avenue residents would like to commend Tract 7260 President, Mike Eveloff, for raising many of these traffic issues and for publicly noting the detrimental effects to Overland Avenue. Little Overland Avenue residents would also like to thank the members of Tract 7260 for taking a supportive stance against the deviations in the SMBP Final Environmental Impact Report, which will significantly and negatively impact Little Overland Avenue. Historically, Tract 7260 Homeowners Association has repeatedly come to the aid of Little Overland Avenue and remained steadfast in their desire to retain the residential character of Little Overland Avenue. For more information, please go to www.tract7260.org.

Thank you President Eveloff and all of the members of Tract 7260 Homeowners Association for understanding our concerns and providing your support.

In a continuing effort to keep the residents informed, the Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association (WSSMHA) Annual Meeting was held at the St. Timothy’s auditorium on May 18, 2005, from approximately 7:15 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.

After a welcome and call to order, the President, Barbara Broide, spoke regarding the issues being addressed by the WSSMHA and board member Rich Cahalan summarized the changes to the WSSMHA By-Laws which were subsequently voted upon and passed thereafter.

The new homeowner’s Board of Directors for 2005-2006 was then voted in. The new members of the Board of Directors are as follows (in alphabetical order): Barbara Broide, Rich Cahalan, Bob Cimiluca, Marilyn Cohon, Fred Golan, Len Green, Katharine Greenebaum, Margaret Healy, Mary Kopp, Diana S., Pat Tobais, and Ty Vahedi. Former Board members and Overland Avenue residents Michael Hayes, Arturo Martinez, and Mark Morocco chose not to serve another term.

Following the election, Len Green provided a Treasurer’s report.

Invited speakers included County Supervisor Zev Yaroslovsky and Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Munif Ali. Although invited, Councilmember Jack Weiss was not present for this year’s Annual Meeting.

When: May 18th, 2005
Time: 6:30 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m. meeting
Where: St. Timothys Church Auditorium

Be there and be heard.

All residents are urged to attend the Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association Annual Meeting on 5/18/05 at 7 p.m. at St. Timothys Church Auditorium (on Pico between Beverly Glen and Patrica). Dinner will be served prior to the meeting at 6:30 p.m. and catered by Annas Restaurant. Cost is $7 per person. RSVP at (310) 475-3826. Come hear Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Councilman Jack Weiss, and LAPD Senior Lead Officer Ali speak on issues that affect our community. Find out about the Santa Monica Blvd. Project and other activities of your Homeowners Association. Dont forget to show up and pay your $20 dues membership as there will be several items on the agenda to be voted upon. It is important that all Overland Ave. residents attend in order to have our concerns heard by those responsible for improving our quality of life.

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No Vehicles Over 6000 lbs.

This picture shows the "No Vehicles Over 6000llbs" sign after being bent back by an enormous truck.

A series of input sessions will be held in January to gather information from residents, commuters, business owners & operators as part of a TRAFFIC STUDY being funded & implemented by the WNC.

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Congratulations to the residents of Little Overland Avenue for all of your efforts and support. Our success proves that through hard work and perseverance anything can be achieved. Now that we have the key, it is time to continue our efforts and request our city officials implement the additional traffic safety measures promised for our street.

Remember, this is not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning.

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