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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1993-08-26 TRAFFIC & PARKING COMMISSIONi • A REGULAR MEETING OF THE TRAFFIC AND PARKING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LYNWOOD August 26, 1993 A regular meeting of the Traffic and Parking Commission of the City of Lynwood was held on Thursday, August 26, 1993. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 11330 Bullis Road in the City of Lynwood, California. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Delmar Cabaret. Commissioners, Edmond R. Archambault, William Cunningham, Edward Pacheco, and Chairman Delmar Cabaret answered roll call. Joe Battle was absent. Emilio M. Murga, Director of Public Works and Deputy Jones of the Sheriff's Department were also present. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The pledge of all legiance was led by Commissioner Cunningham. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF POSTING Mr. Murga announced that the agenda of August 26, 1993, was duly posted on Monday, August 23, 1993. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Cunningham motioned to accept the minutes as written. Commissioner Pacheco seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved. PUBLIC ORALS There were none. SCHEDULED MATTERS There were none. Mr. Murga explained that John Oskoui was appointed as temporary Director of Facilities Maintenance and that he (Mr. Murga) would be facilitating the meeting. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS Mr. Murga mentioned that there were a few items pending and he wanted to review them briefly. Mr. Murga said that the County of Los Angeles has proposed to put in the third lane on Imperial Hwy at no cost to the City of Lynwood but that their proposal would completely eliminate parking the total length of Imperial Hwy and that this is a 1 concern because some business's have very limited or no parking at all and that staff needed to talk to the owners to get their opinion. Chairman Cabaret said that the commission had asked for a survey of the shop owners before and Commissioner Archambault asked if the survey had been done yet. Commissioner Archambault said he was concerned because some locations had no parking and no room for trucks such as the liquor store on Fracar. Commissioner Cunningham asked how the problem could be solved. Mr. Murga said that a survey would be done and be bought to the board at the next meeting. He also said that he has been in contact with the County regarding the proposed third lane and that after driving Imperial Hwy. the County representative, was willing to consider alternatives or entertain any suggestions. One suggestion made was to allow parking in some locations with the condition that in the future, as areas are developed, that new parking restrictions are imposed not to allow street parking. Commissioner Cunningham said that if the plan were to go ahead as planned without ironing out the snags, that the plan would not work. He also said that the letter that was prepared but was not heard had a lot of good points in it. He also expressed concern that even if the Sheriff's Dept. came out to deal with a illegally parked car, that it would compound the problem and stated he would like the auto -club consulted to see if they had any ideas or if staff could come up with options. Mr. Murga stated that 80% of the congestion that can be relieved is at the intersections and said his concern is to get the three lanes of traffic to clear the intersections. Commissioner Cabaret expressed concern on eastbound Imperial east of Atlantic because the I -710 freeway bridge has only two lanes and said this creates a bottleneck. He said there is little traffic going south on I -710 and that most traffic goes across the bridge to northbound I -710. Commissioner Cunningham said that the LA County reported that when the new I -105 freeway is open to traffic that the traffic on Imperial will increase and it does not make sense to him. Commissioner Cabaret said that the County report attached to the proposal to widen Imperial said that Imperial Hwy traffic would be increased and does not make any sense. He said he asked for a clarification. 0 0 Mr. Murga said that one of the upcoming projects is to widen Imperial Hwy between Atlantic Avenue to the southbound I -710 freeway on ramp (just east of Wright Road) on the south side only. He went on to say that the LA County report is contrary to Caltrans estimate that Imperial Hwy. will go down in traffic and that Long Beach Blvd. will increase. Mr. Murga went on to say that widening Imperial Hwy. and putting in a third lane should decrease congestion in the area. Commissioner Cunningham said that if the project is approved, as was previously discussed, and if Imperial is widened from Atlantic to Wright road, then the alley on the south side just east of Atlantic where people traveling west bound on Imperial who make left hand turns into the 76 Station alley would have to be eliminated because it is a dangerous area. Chairman Cabaret suggested a danger exists for pedestrians who might be at risk due to the bus blocking the view at that location. He asked previously if there were any accidents and he was told there were none. Deputy Jones said he agreed it was a dangerous situation and that he had seen potential accidents but does not know of any. He also said that delineators were a good idea, as Mr. Murga suggested, but could be expensive because they would need to be replaced often. He suggested maybe increasing the light for left turn movements onto Atlantic Ave. Commissioner Pacheco inquired about the vacating of that alley and Mr. Murga responded that the alley that was vacated was next to the Pescado Mojado and that the owner had decided not to close the alley. Commissioner Cunningham asked staff to keep it in mind to try and solve it. On another matter, Mr. Murga said that he received a call from a parent of a student who attends St. Emedius regarding a letter from the City saying the City would not be funding a crossing guard. He also stated that the mid -block crosswalks have been eliminated and the remaining crosswalk would be repainted and legends re- stripped. Chairman Cabaret expressed sadness that there used to be an adult volunteer crossing guard at the location and she was advised not to do it because she would be liable since she was not a city nor a school district employee. He said it was a bad situation that since there was no money to pay for a crossing guard. 3 E 0 Commissioner Cunningham asked if there was a state law that requires the school board to provide a crossing guard. He thought the school board took care of it until he found out the city was doing it. Chairman Cabaret said it was a private school and would not have to follow the same guidelines as a public school. Deputy Jones said that in some cities, the crossing guards are part of the police force. Mr. Murga added that still on other cities, the crossing guards are paid by the city and some are paid by the school district. Mr. Murga updated the commission on various CIP's. E1 Segundo between Long Beach and Alpine and Palm Ave between Alpine and Long Beach is currently under construction. The City is also ready to bid the City Hall Re -roof project, Imperial Hwy widening, Slurry Seal, Sidewalk Reconstruction, Long Beach Blvd Concrete Improvement. Also the following projects will be ready to be sent to bid in a month or so. They are Atlantic Reconstruction, and Bullis Road. Mr Murga answered Commissioner Cunningham's question on funding by stating that Prop C funds are being used to fund Atlantic and Bullis Road with Inter Modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) funds. Mr. Murga also stated that the last phase of Long Beach Blvd Widening project will take at least 6 -8 months to acquire the property before construction can begin. Commissioner Cunningham asked if the drainage problem on Long Beach near Louise was going to be addressed and also asked about the Traffic Signal approved for Long Beach Blvd and Louise. Mr Murga responded by saying council approved the traffic signal but funds have not been appropriated to commence the installation of the signal. As for the ponding water problem, Mr. Murga explained the City will be paying for the reconstruction of the two (2) corners and Caltrans will be paying for the installation of the storm drains and catch basin. Mr. Murga further explained that two new traffic signals were going to be installed, one south and one north at the freeway on and off ramps that will be owned and maintained by Caltrans. Also, Mr. Murga said that the City is in the process conducting a well site study to replace Well 20, built by Caltrans, that could not be used due to high levels of contamination. 4 0 0 Commissioner Cunningham asked what the Saturday clean up program was; asked if it was a training period. Said it should be broken up to smaller groups. Commissioner Pacheco asked what the students get paid. Mr. Murga said the program is going on now, that the City was hiring supervisors and that the students were paid $5.00 /hour. Mr. Murga also mentioned that the City was using County Work Fare personnel from the Welfare office and that the California Conservation Corp would also be doing work for the city. Commissioner Cunningham asked the Sheriff when the bike patrols were going to start. Deputy Jones said that the Bicycle patrol was already on patrol. He stated that they are going out now but are not going after heavy crime activity, but rather are going to trouble areas where people complain about, like panhandlers, loiters etc. Public Works monthly report was attached to provide the commission with the month of July's 1993 report. COMMISSION ORALS Commissioner Archambault said that a tree needs to be trimmed on Los Flores just west of Bellinger. He stated that people have to go out into the street because it blocks the sidewalk. In addition, he said they had converted the garage into living quarters and that trucks park on the street. Commission Cunningham said we should refer this to Code Enforcement and Chairman Cabaret asked if the City could trim what was overhanging in the right of way. Commissioner Archambault said that they did a good job patching Bellinger but that there are still some pot holes and could they be repaired. Commissioner Pacheco wants to know why parking enforcement is not ticketing trucks around Frontier Market because they park on Bullis and block driveways. They also block the sidewalks. He said he asked parking enforcement and was told that they were told to not cite but he would like the parking enforced. Deputy Jones said they cannot give tickets because the city does there own parking enforcement. The only thing they do is tow a vehicle if it is blocking a driveway. But, they will not ticket. Commissioner Archambault also said that the motorcycle shop on Bellinger blocks the sidewalk and Chairman Cabaret added that A they test drive motorcycles on Fernwood and would like the area patrolled if possible. Commissioner Cunningham mentioned that there are two large trees on Imperial Hwy that block the view if you are south on Cornish and want to make a right hand turn. He said that you have to go past the limit line to see oncoming traffic. In addition, he said Mr. Wang (previous director of Public Works) said that those trees were also causing sewer problems. In addition, he said Mayor Richards had agreed verbally to make a note to have the trees removed. He said there was accidents in the past caused by the trees and wants to know if some of the money received by the city can be used to have them removed. He said Mayor Richards had made mention and agreed that the trees should come out. Commissioner Cunningham also asked that a work order be issued to refill the pot hole located at 10821 Cornish. He said the street was recently patched and it has been holding but there are a few areas that need to be addressed. He said part of the reason why the street is in bad shape is the school bus coming down the street to enter straight into the school district. Chairman Cabaret asked if the Sheriff Dept had any concerns and Deputy Jones said that there is an uncontrolled intersection on LeSage and Carson and had an accident. He would like to request a stop sign. Chairman Cabaret said he had requested that John Oskoui look into and find out about a program that Councilman Armando Rea had mentioned where by the City and the Sheriff dept would work together to remove junk cars from residences. Would like more information on that program or another type program. Deputy Jones said he would like the commission to know that if there are any hot spots they would like the bike patrol to go to, to call the sheriff station and ask for the person in charge of the bike team. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Archambault. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Cunningham and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned to September 30, 1993, at 6:45 P.M. rev 10 -93 T07 -146 0