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View Winners → Dear Editor: Open Letter to Elected Officials of Arcadia
Arcadia Weekly Apr 30, 2015
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This is an OPEN LETTER to the Elected Officials for the City of Arcadia.
AGAIN, I want to bring to your attention the lack of the big yellow signs “Children Crossing,” “Pedestrian Crossing,” etc. prior to the crosswalks near schools where there is a traffic signal.
Las Tunas Drive and Duarte Road are major streets running East and West through the City of Arcadia. There is a lack of the above mentioned signs at Longley Way Elementary (on Las Tunas Ave), Arcadia High School, and Holly Avenue Elementary School (on Duarte Road). There are stop signals, but cars do not always stop on the red lights.
I’m sure the drivers that commute via these streets are aware of Arcadia HS (as it is quite visible).
But Holly Avenue Elementary and Longley Way Elementary are not quite as visible when driving past them. Longley Elementary School has a tall hedge running along Las Tunas Ave and I would bet that 90% of the commuters are not aware there is a school there. There is a Speed Sign saying “Speed 25 Miles when students are present” and a 3” x 12” sign above it that says “SCHOOL.”
The North/South streets (less traveled) at all three of these schools are marked with yellow cross and with the additional big yellow “Children Crossing and Pedestrian Crossing” signs.
The City of Arcadia is a very wealthy city and it seems to me that they could protect the children, young people, and grandparents crossing at stop signals near the schools much better than they are.
The City of Arcadia needs to talk and take lessons from Temple City as to how they mark their school crosswalks and what kind of yellow paint they use. The paint stays bright and the thick diagonal lines in the crosswalks can’t be missed by drivers.
Approx. six months ago, I wrote to the City of Temple City pointing out how dangerous the corner of Warren Way and Live Oak Avenue was when the crossing guard was crossing students and parents. The crosswalk lines had long faded and cars speed on Live Oak Ave. Within one month the City of Temple City painted the crosswalk with the bright yellow paint and the thick diagonal lines. Within two months they installed a solar powered flashing yellow sign when someone wanted to cross Live Oak Ave they could activate it by pushing a button. Hurray for the City of Temple City, they listened.
Arcadia just recently painted “White Left Turn Arrows” in the left turn lanes on the road. On Las Tunas Avenue they also added the word “ONLY.”
With the lack of additional “NO U TURN” signs being installed along with the newly painted road markings, the drivers are NOT paying attention to the “White Left Turn Arrow” and “ONLY” and are still making u-turns.
I’m a crossing guard at Warren Way and Las Tunas Avenue and day after day I see drivers running the RED LIGHT (not amber) at least three times per hour and since the white left turn only arrow was painted drivers are still making u-turns.
So, in conclusion, I feel that Temple City is doing a much better job in protecting pedestrians than Arcadia.
WHY IS THAT ARCADIA? You obviously do not care about the safety of children, parents, and grandparents crossing the street where a signal is located.
-E. Nelson
ARCADIA
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