New Speed Humps Installed in Atwater Village

New Speed Hump, originally uploaded by Atwater Village Newbie.

AS FORESHADOWED by new street signs last month, the City of Los Angeles is installing lovely speed humps today and tomorrow in Atwater Village.

Till now Valleybrink Road suffered one of the longest unregulated stretches of residential asphalt in the neighborhood. Commuters on shortcuts to and from Glendale Blvd. bolted along 1,600 feet of zoom room. And it seemed like nothing (kids, dogs, seniors, parked cars, palm fronds, trash bins) could keep them from besting 25 MPH.

But now, word is, these humps will work. Drivers will be forced to slow down to 15 MPH, thanks to long-term and determined efforts of our neighborhood petitioners and city reps.

Hump Day Happening This Week?

VALLEYBRINK ROAD is a tow-away zone 6:00am to 6:00pm, Thursday and Friday. Signs on every pole. Does this mean the arrival of those long-heralded speed humps?

Speed Humps Coming to Valleybrink Road

ONE OF THE longest stretches of unregulated residential asphalt in Atwater Village, with some 1,600 feet of acceleration space, is getting speed humps. After 2 years of traffic studies and petitions, 4 speed humps will be installed on Valleybrink Road between Sunnynook Drive and the 5-way intersection at Dover Street. Signs went up a few days ago. The humps (not the shorter bumps found in parking lots) could be installed any day. The speed limit on this stretch has always been 25 m.p.h. But the gentle, long curve of Valleybrink seems to encourage speeds of 40 to 50 m.p.h., especially on sweeping days when half the curbs are empty. So speed while you still can, child-hating scofflaws, before we start tearing your mufflers out from under you.

Street Closures in Atwater Village Tomorrow, But Why?

PORTIONS OF Sunnynook, Ingledale and Valleybrink, among other streets, are closed all day tomorrow, with City signs restricting curb parking May 13, 6:00am to 6:00pm. This must be more than the usual Wednesday cleaning. If it's street resurfacing, I say redirect to areas that actually need it. (South Atwater near Silver Lake Blvd., anyone?) But if it's speed-hump installation, I say bring it. Too many cars approach 40 to 50 MPH in these parts, and the baby strollers don't have a chance. UPDATE: Now we know why.

Valleybrink Road: Speed Humps Instead of Cul de Sacs?

SOME RADICAL elements may be calling for a dead-end strategy on Valleybrink Road, but this is the latest in what real community leaders are doing to fight drive-through trouble in Central Atwater Village. From a neighborhood email: Update on the Valleybrink between Dover and Sunnynook speed hump request: "A traffic study was done at the end of 2007, and we were approved for 4 humps on this block. I submitted our signed petitions in June of this year, and we were told we'd see action before the end of the year. "That was before all the budget crises, and in my last communication with the speed hump office, earlier this month, I was told there's a new cue starting in January, and that we might get our humps by March or April." The office of LA City Council District 13 tells me speed humps are proven to slow traffic on residential streets. (Speed bumps are shorter, usually found in parking lots.) Let's hope this strategy leads to fewer grab-and-dash-type crimes on Valleybrink.

Mugging at Gunpoint? Turn Valleybrink Into Cul de Sacs

IT'S BEEN A bad year for Valleybrink Road in Atwater Village, and this past weekend was another shameful example. Reported on the AV Forum and from a Newbie reader: "The story is that a friend was leaving a house on Valleybrink (just north of Sunnynook Dr.) on Sunday around 1:30pm. He walked to his car ... when a small vehicle rolled up filled with gangmembers (I don't have a description of them) and they put a gun to the waistline of the guy and took his wallet. They quickly drove off leaving the man unharmed, thank god. But this is some scary SHIT! Middle of the day on a Sunday!" Valleybrink gets more than its fair share of breakings and break-ins, and I think I know why. This narrow residental street offers nearly 1,600 uninterrupted feet of drive-by potential. I'd guess it the 'hood's longest stretch sans intersections, stop signs or speed bumps. It's way too easy to do the deed on Valleybrink and then hop on I-5, long gone before anyone calls 911. How about we blockade Valleybrink and turn it into 2 dead-end streets? Landscape the new back-to-back cul-de-sacs. Call them pocket parks. Have 400 community meetings about it. But do something. Cut off the flow.