From the LA Times
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Speed Bumps Drive Wedge Between Canyon Residents
Traffic: Some honk in protest, saying devices slow
emergency crews. That enrages others.
By BOB POOL, Times Staff Writer
Mandeville Canyon is taking its lumps over controversial new
speed bumps.
Residents living at the bottom of the 1,200-home neighborhood
persuaded Los Angeles traffic engineers to install a pair of
asphalt bumps a month ago to put the brakes on speeders.
But those living at the upper end of 5-mile-long Mandeville
Canyon Road say that speeding was never a problem and that the
bumps are safety hazards, which dangerously delay ambulances and
firetrucks.
As a protest, they have begun honking their horns each time
they slow down and drive over the bumps.
That is prompting altercations between motorists and
lower-canyon residents.
One driver says he was chased down and his car rammed after
he honked. Another contends that her car was kicked and pounded by
two men after she honked. Others assert that they have been
followed home and harassed by lower-canyon residents.
The hostilities have prompted police to step up patrols in
the rustic Brentwood enclave north of Sunset Boulevard, which has
only one way in and out.
"It's like the Hatfields and McCoys up there," said Robert
Ringler, a leader of the West Los Angeles Community-Police
Advisory Board, which is trying to steer clear of the dispute.
Added LAPD motorcycle Officer U.S. Taylor, who said he has
been screamed at by Mandeville motorists: "Can't we just have
peace? This ought to be such a beautiful, tranquil place."
The speed bump issue has been touchy for years in the canyon.
An alleged speeding problem caused residents to begin talking
of bumps six years ago. Then in 1998 residents of the canyon's
lower end began circulating petitions asking Los Angeles traffic
engineers to install them.
Signatures of about 80 lower-canyon residents prompted
officials to approve five "speed table" bumps earlier this year.
The planned installation became an issue in this spring's 11th
Council District election when incumbent Councilwoman Cindy
Miscikowski endorsed them as "a test."
Homeowners from the upper canyon managed to get plans for
three bumps dropped after they persuaded 22 lower-canyon residents
to remove their names from the petition. But other lower-canyon
residents wouldn't budge on the other two bumps, which were
installed in mid-May.
With their downhill neighbors refusing to give the bumps the
boot, upper-canyon residents began to toot.
An anonymous flier circulated in late May urged residents to
"please protest by beeping your horn while driving over the bumps"
as a way to "encourage" their removal. Reaction was swift.
Desmond McDonald, whose family has lived in the canyon since
the mid-1940s, told police that when he honked he was chased up
the hill and rammed by the pursuer's Cadillac SUV.
"He was screaming hysterically," McDonald recalled Tuesday.
"He was yelling, 'You people are driving me insane with this
honking! It's got to stop!' "
McDonald said he told the man that he once had to give his
grandmother cardiopulmonary resuscitation for more than 20 minutes
before paramedics came. "And here he was telling me how the horns
were annoying him," he said.
An upper-canyon resident who asked that her name not be
printed said her BMW was dented when two men rushed up and kicked
and pounded it after she honked at the bumps. "I was only honking
in the daytime, not at night," she said.
Upper-canyon resident Wendy Rosen said the area has a low
traffic accident rate, which means speeding is not a problem.
But it's a problem with paramedics: Rosen said she clocked an
ambulance creeping over the bumps at 8 mph instead of the canyon's
posted 30 mph.
But a Miscikowski aide said the bumps will stay at least five
more months while the city tests their effectiveness. Council
deputy Chris Bing said a firetruck was able to cross them at about
25 mph--not enough to seriously delay a response in an emergency.
Taylor said detectives are investigating the honking--which
is illegal "unless there's a deer or squirrel in the road"--and
the road rage allegations.
For now, officials indicated, it will take more than beeps to
bounce the bumps out of Mandeville Canyon.
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times
same guy? read the chapter first....
[view all posts]
illegitimi non carborundum
From the LA Times
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Speed Bumps Drive Wedge Between Canyon Residents
Traffic: Some honk in protest, saying devices slow
emergency crews. That enrages others.
By BOB POOL, Times Staff Writer
Mandeville Canyon is taking its lumps over controversial new
speed bumps.
Residents living at the bottom of the 1,200-home neighborhood
persuaded Los Angeles traffic engineers to install a pair of
asphalt bumps a month ago to put the brakes on speeders.
But those living at the upper end of 5-mile-long Mandeville
Canyon Road say that speeding was never a problem and that the
bumps are safety hazards, which dangerously delay ambulances and
firetrucks.
As a protest, they have begun honking their horns each time
they slow down and drive over the bumps.
That is prompting altercations between motorists and
lower-canyon residents.
One driver says he was chased down and his car rammed after
he honked. Another contends that her car was kicked and pounded by
two men after she honked. Others assert that they have been
followed home and harassed by lower-canyon residents.
The hostilities have prompted police to step up patrols in
the rustic Brentwood enclave north of Sunset Boulevard, which has
only one way in and out.
"It's like the Hatfields and McCoys up there," said Robert
Ringler, a leader of the West Los Angeles Community-Police
Advisory Board, which is trying to steer clear of the dispute.
Added LAPD motorcycle Officer U.S. Taylor, who said he has
been screamed at by Mandeville motorists: "Can't we just have
peace? This ought to be such a beautiful, tranquil place."
The speed bump issue has been touchy for years in the canyon.
An alleged speeding problem caused residents to begin talking
of bumps six years ago. Then in 1998 residents of the canyon's
lower end began circulating petitions asking Los Angeles traffic
engineers to install them.
Signatures of about 80 lower-canyon residents prompted
officials to approve five "speed table" bumps earlier this year.
The planned installation became an issue in this spring's 11th
Council District election when incumbent Councilwoman Cindy
Miscikowski endorsed them as "a test."
Homeowners from the upper canyon managed to get plans for
three bumps dropped after they persuaded 22 lower-canyon residents
to remove their names from the petition. But other lower-canyon
residents wouldn't budge on the other two bumps, which were
installed in mid-May.
With their downhill neighbors refusing to give the bumps the
boot, upper-canyon residents began to toot.
An anonymous flier circulated in late May urged residents to
"please protest by beeping your horn while driving over the bumps"
as a way to "encourage" their removal. Reaction was swift.
Desmond McDonald, whose family has lived in the canyon since
the mid-1940s, told police that when he honked he was chased up
the hill and rammed by the pursuer's Cadillac SUV.
"He was screaming hysterically," McDonald recalled Tuesday.
"He was yelling, 'You people are driving me insane with this
honking! It's got to stop!' "
McDonald said he told the man that he once had to give his
grandmother cardiopulmonary resuscitation for more than 20 minutes
before paramedics came. "And here he was telling me how the horns
were annoying him," he said.
An upper-canyon resident who asked that her name not be
printed said her BMW was dented when two men rushed up and kicked
and pounded it after she honked at the bumps. "I was only honking
in the daytime, not at night," she said.
Upper-canyon resident Wendy Rosen said the area has a low
traffic accident rate, which means speeding is not a problem.
But it's a problem with paramedics: Rosen said she clocked an
ambulance creeping over the bumps at 8 mph instead of the canyon's
posted 30 mph.
But a Miscikowski aide said the bumps will stay at least five
more months while the city tests their effectiveness. Council
deputy Chris Bing said a firetruck was able to cross them at about
25 mph--not enough to seriously delay a response in an emergency.
Taylor said detectives are investigating the honking--which
is illegal "unless there's a deer or squirrel in the road"--and
the road rage allegations.
For now, officials indicated, it will take more than beeps to
bounce the bumps out of Mandeville Canyon.
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times
illegitimi non carborundum
