By Mary O’KEEFE

On Wednesday, June 29, Crescenta Valley Town Council hosted a public meeting with law enforcement where the topic of traffic safety was discussed.

The meeting was a follow-up to an earlier emergency meeting on traffic safety that CVTC held privately with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., California Highway Patrol, Public Works Dept. – Los Angeles County and Glendale Unified School District.

The purpose of Wednesday’s meeting was to ask the community to share its concerns and opinions on what should be done about traffic safety, added Dede Mueller, CVTC member and chair of The Streets and Transportation Committee.

The first to speak was Tujunga resident Mark Dutton, who voiced concerns about what he saw on his community streets.

“[Cars are] running through stop signs, speeding though neighborhoods,” he said. He added it was dangerous to take a walk with his wife in the neighborhood because cars would speed past them.

“The only thing that will work is more law enforcement,” he said.

Tujunga is under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Dept. Dutton said he has spoken to the police on several occasions and has been told the department wants to do something about it but nothing seems to be done. The speed display trailers that light up with a vehicle’s speed have been put in the area but don’t seem to deter drivers from speeding, he added.

“We don’t understand what is going on,” he said. “The automated equipment [also doesn’t deter]; no one cares anymore.”

He added that he is not certain what caused the change in drivers not obeying the simplest of laws, like stopping at a stop sign or signal light, but he has seen a difference in driving attitudes.

Captain Robert Hahnlein of the LASD – Crescenta Valley Station said that although Tujunga is in the jurisdiction of the LAPD if his deputies are driving through the city on their way to the unincorporated areas of LA County and they see a traffic violation they do respond.

“We have speed trailers [in LASD jurisdiction] and they usually help. They do make a few cars slow down,” he said.

He added that a few cars slowing doesn’t solve the problem, but it does help.

CHP Capt. Moulton added his officers will also stop a driver if they witness a traffic infraction in the area. CHP coverage includes highways and the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County including parts of La Crescenta.

“If it is [a traffic violation] that we see in front of us even though it might not be in our jurisdiction we are going to address that,” he said.

Moulton suggested reaching out for help to law enforcement in that specific jurisdiction. People can call the stations and give officers a specific area and peak hours of concern; then an officer can be at the location.

This is something that CHP has done many times in regard to school traffic. Officers will be in specific locations that have been identified earlier as troubled areas and watch and respond to traffic violators.

“The challenge is always resources,” Moulton said. He added that anytime law enforcement places officers in one area that means they are taking those officers away from another area where they would provide service.

A resident asked about using a “decoy” car, an unoccupied patrol unit, that is parked in front of an area identified as having issues.

Hahnlein said they do use this system on occasion; however, once some drivers find it is a decoy and unoccupied the unit is vandalized.

“It can deter for a while until they finalize realize that it has been sitting there for a while,” he said.

Hahnlein added some residents have offered to have a unit parked in their neighborhood and they will watch after it, which has worked.

Another resident who lived in the far north area of Glendale shared issues about the school traffic near Clark Magnet High School. He spoke of speeding and traffic congestion during school hours. He also spoke of vehicles racing down New York Avenue during the evening hours. The concern was not only about speeding but also about vehicles with modified exhaust.

Glendale Unified School District representatives said for the public to report to them when they see any violations near schools during school hours. With a description that can identify the driver the school can reach out to a parent/student. The district does have people monitoring the drop-off/pickup areas but stressed they are not law enforcement and volunteers/teachers will not confront drivers; however, the administration can reach out.

“We need our parents and we need our community to work together,” said Hagop Kassabian, administrator of planning, development and facilities at GUSD.

He shared a situation when he had spoken “multiple times” with parents about taking a teen’s vehicle away due to their dangerous driving practices, but to no avail.

“Unfortunately it didn’t turn out well,” he said.

Robbyn Battles, former CVTC president, asked if there was a way for Public Works to get grants that would specifically study speed issues.

“We are going after grants,” assured Julian Garcia, Public Works.

He added there is a process of obtaining grants and then creating any type of study but they continue to look for funding.

The bottom line of the meeting came down to two things: not enough personnel to cover the areas that need to be covered and drivers just ignoring traffic rules.