Morning View Traffic Problems Workshop Explores Some Solutions

• Mayor Promises City Funding for an Additional Crossing Guard to Make the Area Safer

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Morning View Drive school traffic and parking issues were in the spotlight again last week, this time at a community meeting hosted by the City of Malibu’s Public Works Department. The workshop, which was held at the request of the Malibu City Council, included Malibu Mayor Andy Stern; Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich; the Malibu High School and Juan Cabrillo school principals; representatives from both school PTAs; two members of the city youth commission; a representative of the Malibu Park Safety Coalition; the president of the Santa Monica-Malibu board of education; the district superintendent; an assortment of city and district staff and consultants; law enforcement representatives; and a handful of parents and area residents greatly outnumbered by the officials.
A traffic and parking improvement plan developed by city staff with input from MPSC recently came under fire from parents of students and the MVD campuses when it was presented to the city council. The council pulled the item from the agenda, requesting that the concerned parties meet to craft a revised plan.
“We’re here to spur discussion, try to resolve issues, build a consensus,” City Manager Jim Thorsen stated at the beginning of the meeting, stressing that the focus was on short-term solutions for the chronic traffic congestion on Morning View Drive.
It’s a complicated problem,” MHS principal Mark Kelly said. “If Morning View Drive is restricted, more parking needs to be found on campus. We are exploring some things that might help.” Kelly suggested that a different bus turnaround might be possible, and added that “everyone needs to take responsibility for safe driving. Carpooling is strongly encouraged.”
“We all recognize it could be much better, It’s not school versus neighbors.” MHS parent and former school board member Kathy Wisnicki said, summarizing the issues. “We’re looking into some alternatives, exploring some things that might help.” She suggested that some areas of asphalt on the MHS campus could potentially be restriped to add parking spaces and also suggested that buses could possibly be rerouted so that they don’t block the exit from the student parking.
Steve Scheinkman, a Morning View Drive resident representing MPSC, clarified his organization’s position, explaining that he had never advocated student parking on PCH or a complete parking ban on Morning View. “We’re not trying to get cars not to park on Morning View Drive,” he explained, adding, “We’re asking for restrictions in three places, two are already restricted.”
Scheinkman’s primary suggestion consisted of removing 15-20 parking spaces from in front of the auditorium on the school side of Morning View Drive during school hours to prevent parked cars from blocking the turn lane into the school driveway and the entrance to Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, and enforcing existing parking restrictions.
Scheinkman also suggested that a time change be made in the rest of the green, restricted parking areas to attempt to get cars out by 2:15 p.m., freeing up room to accommodate more cars when school officially ends. This could be facilitated, he said, by assigning those areas to seniors who do not have a sixth period; and eliminating parking on the ocean side of Morning View Drive in front of Juan Cabrillo to create a right side passing lane to allow through traffic to pass cars waiting to turn into the elementary school. Both of these suggestions met with objections.
Youth Commission representatives Gianna Fote and Erica Posey, students at the high school, pointed out that seniors are the only students able to obtain parking permits, which usually sell out within hours of being made available in the fall, and that seniors would have no incentive to park on the street.
“There aren’t that many kids that leave early,” Fote said. “We’re really tight on parking. Every morning it’s a struggle to find a place to park. Maybe adding more before taking [any] away would be really practical.”
“It’s a public street,” Kelly said. “It’s hard for me to say, ‘I need you to park on the street but I can’t guarantee you a place.’”
“It’s a public street,” Stern concurred. “I don’t think we have the ability to restrict it during the day.”
“No changes can be made until new parking is in place,” Scheinkman said. “We’re not going to come up with a perfect solution,” he said. “This isn’t about convenience, it’s about safety. There’s going to have to be a compromise.”
Christine Hiends, the Juan Cabrillo PTA president, expressed concern about the passing lane plan in front of the elementary school. “Be really careful about the crosswalk,” she warned. “It may need an extra person.”
Cabrillo parent Janet Siderman agreed, adding that the school needs another traffic director and a crossing guard. “[the solution] might be as simple as getting two more people,” she said.
Pressed to comment on the elementary school traffic situation, principal Barry Yates said, “The bottom line in safety. We need two or three more people out there [directing traffic].
“If there’s a need for it we’ll do it,” Stern said. The city, not the school district, currently foots the bill for the existing traffic director. The mayor’s offer to add additional traffic controllers/ crossing guards was greeted with enthusiasm by many in the audience, especially after district superintendent Tim Cuneo announced there was no way the district could afford the expense.
Cuneo also said that he could never recommend using instructional areas for parking purposes, nixing potential plans to restripe part of the asphalt for additional parking.
He explained that a suggestion made by Malibu Park resident and MHS parent Hans Laetz that involved parking schools buses off campus on city property and freeing up the bus barn area for student parking was unlikely to work. “We’ve actually explored the option to move the buses. No one wanted us to put the buses there,” Cuneo said.
“The school and city will get together over the next weeks,” Thorsen said, concluding the meeting. He said he was optimistic that the workshop may have at least produced a partial solution.
Other participants agreed. “I nearly fell out of my chair when Mayor Stern said he would get us a crossing guard and traffic controller,” one parent told The Malibu Surfside News after the meeting. “We’ve asked for that for years,” another said. “I guess maybe we just didn’t ask the right people.”