Residents Blame Crime on Bike Path
LA's Transportation Committee met Tuesday and took public comment on CD11 Councilman Bill Rosendahl's motion to close the Ballona Creek Bike Path access gate located along Culver Drive.
The motion was made in response to complaints from residents of crime in the area and their claim that it was the Ballona Creek Bike Path gate that allowed the criminal element to "ingress and egress" the crime scene.
Five representatives from the community showed up to speak in favor of the motion and two of them gave emotional testimony of their experiences and referred to "living in fear."
In addition to LADOT testimony in opposition to the motion, five members of the community spoke against the motion and in favor of keeping the gate open and two letters were read into the record urging the Transportation Committee to maintain open access to Ballona Creek.
Erik Knutzen wrote: "All the great cities of the world were founded on the banks of rivers. We need to do all we can to reconnect our city to our rivers, not restrict access. We need to treat our rivers as assets not liabilities. In fact, it's this mentality of locking up our La Ballona Creek behind gates and fences that actually makes the creek more dangerous."
Jim Lamm, President of the Ballona Creek Renaissance wrote: "Lighting, visibility, eyes on the creek, ways to get on and off the bike path, and attractive people-friendly design all can be part of the solution. Locked gates can trap law-abiding citizens on one side or another and inhibit law enforcement. While more bike path users can help the area be somewhat self-patrolling, increased uniformed patrols also could help."
Such measures relate to a longstanding public space design approach which goes under the acronym of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design)."
Enci Box spoke from a woman's perspective of the unsafe environment that is created when a bike path is fenced in with infrequent escape routes. (The distance from this gate to Sepulveda is over a quarter of a mile) Closing off access hardly makes it safer and would result in less traffic which will contribute to an even more unsafe environment.
Cyclists spoke in favor of maintaining frequent access points to the Ballona Creek Bike Path in order to encourage traffic which will contribute to a safer environment.
Councilman Alarcon stumped the City Attorney when he asked if we even had the authority to close the gate or if we needed to appeal to the State. He suggested that if the issue is crime, it might be more appropriate to create a Neighborhood Watch program. "Closing those gates is like saying 'We Lost!'"
Councilman LaBonge suggested that LADOT impose a Sunset to Sunrise restriction that didn't actually address the residents' claim that the crime was occurring during the daylight hours. In a strange endorsement of his suggestion he then mentioned the LA River Bike Path and the fact that the copper had been stolen from the River Path lights, all during the night.
Councilman Rosendahl was quite gracious throughout the hearing, moving the item to a lead position in the 3 hour Transportation Committee meeting and encouraging the residents as they sat in the front row and awaited their opportunity to speak.
Unfortunately, he neglected to include the position of pedestrians and others who use the Ballona Creek Path (Class I Bike Paths are actually shared-use paths in CA) and he set up a false "Cyclists vs. Residents" dichotomy that failed to recognize the fact that nobody was there in favor of crime and that everybody wanted to work on a safer Ballona Creek.
Rosendahl cut to the chase by referring to a Police report that detailed crimes within a half mile radius including Murder and Burglary from Vehicles and Grand Theft Auto. (Only 4 of the mentioned crimes took place on the Bike Path and no indication was given as to the nature of those 4 crimes) He then declared that "the community has spoken in favor of closing the gates. I'm not sold on the Bike Riders position. I want 60 days, I want a report from staff, I want a committee, the Police need to be a part of it, and I want another location for a gate. When the neighbors look at me with comfort, then we can move on."
The Transportation Committee settled on 30 days, staff will work on the details while the community will have the opportunity to work together to address the situation and come up with another location for an access point to the Ballona Creek Bike Path.
Rosendahl then stepped into the hall with several of the speakers to discuss the "committee" but the tension grew so quickly and loudly that the City Hall Security Officer (backed up by Councilmember LaBonge) felt the need to intervene.
This does not bode well for hopes that an amicable solution lies on the horizon for the Ballona Creek Community.
Through all the discussion of the gate the Transportation Committee failed to acknowledge the simple but comprehensive suggestion that the opportunity here is for the City to develop River Access Design Standards that incorporate Mr. Lamm's suggested CPTED elements and that serve to beautify our environment while making it safer and more accessible.
The public has 30 days to weigh in on this issue and can submit comments to the Chair of the Transportation Committee, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel or to Councilman Bill Rosendahl. Requests to participate on the Ballona Creek Committee go directly to Councilmember Rosendahl.
councilmember.greuel@lacity.org
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
Photo courtesy of LABikePaths.com