Community Corner

Community Turns Up to Take Back the Boulevard

The initiative's first public meeting is an outstanding success.

About 100 people gathered Wednesday evening in one of Eagle Rock’s most historic buildings to participate in the first of at least three public meetings hosted by “Take Back the Boulevard,” the homegrown initiative aimed at improving the public right of way on—and along—Colorado Boulevard, thereby making it more integrated with the community.

The public meeting, held at the , followed TBTB’s Sept. 14 kickoff at the , in which Colorado Boulevard business owners and landlords discussed the initiative’s broad aspects with members of the steering committee and other stakeholders in Eagle Rock.

As with that initial meeting, the focal point of Wednesday night’s event was neatly encapsulated in a single sentence that flashed before the audience during a PowerPoint presentation that served as a forum for both a lecture and an impromptu discussion.

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To paraphrase the sentence: What needs to be done to make Colorado Boulevard Eagle Rock’s “main street?”

The Vision For Taking Back Colorado

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For those who couldn’t attend last night’s meeting as well as for those who need a handy reference point, here are some highlights from the PowerPoint presentation by TBTB steering committee member and urban planning consultant Jeff Jacobberger:

  • Utilize Colorado Boulevard’s 90-foot curb-to-curb width for purposes other than just vehicular traffic, thereby turning this historic corridor into more of a bike-friendly, pedestrian-oriented street lined with successful businesses that have a stake in the community and give back to it in tangible ways.
  • Of the 120 feet that separates one shop front from another across the boulevard, only 20 feet (83 percent) is dedicated to pedestrians—the rest is taken up by automobiles.
  • Make it easier and safer for people to cross Colorado Boulevard by reducing vehicle speeds and constructing “bulbouts” at strategic points as well as increasing the number of pedestrian crossways, including those with flashing lights.
  • Make walking along the boulevard more appealing through the addition of shade trees and better landscaping.
  • Install bicycle routes and other amenities for bikers that make it easier and safer for people to bike in Eagle Rock instead of driving around.
  • Piggyback on City of Los Angeles street projects that are implemented from time to time, as well as take advantage of special City funding available for special projects—in a coordinated and consensual manner to shape the boulevard around the community’s vision for it.

Why Colorado Needs to be Taken Back

The PowerPoint presentation included some startling statistics that make a compelling case for reduced speeding along the boulevard:

  • Traffic-related injuries along the three-mile Eagle Rock stretch of Colorado Boulevard (between the 2 freeway and Avenue 64) increased 61 percent from 2005 through 2009.
  • Nine motorists and two pedestrians were killed on Colorado Boulevard during 2005-2009.
  • As many as 281 people, including 36 pedestrians and bicyclists, were injured along Colorado Boulevard from 2005 to 2009.

Pros and Cons

The presentation ended with a lively question-and-answer session in which the audience raised a variety of issues related to Colorado, including arguments both for and against slowing down traffic on what happens to be a secondary highway.

One longtime Eagle Rock resident and community volunteer said that slowing down traffic would make it harder for children to get to the numerous schools—from Montessoris to full-fledged charter schools—located on or just off Colorado Boulevard.

A stakeholder who drives into Eagle Rock from Glendale every day to work raised another pertinent point: As it is, Colorado gets fairly choked with traffic during rush hours; reducing the number of lanes from three to two would only divert traffic to Hill Drive and Yosemite Drive, which are parallel to Colorado.

Audience members responded to both those concerns with the kind of creativity and community spirit for which Eagle Rock is well known.

“I live three houses down from Colorado, in the center of the boulevard, and I’d be delighted if traffic would slow down,” said one resident who is the mother of a school-going child. The argument for faster traffic doesn’t stand the test, she added, because there are very few short periods of time during an average day when traffic needs to be relatively fast and smooth—so that children can get to school on time, for example.

Applause for Initiative's Core Mission

“If we made the community more conducive to bicycling, kids would ride to school” instead of being driven around, another female resident said, prompting an applause from the audience.

Some of the loudest applause came roughly halfway through the Q&A session when Jacobberger asked a middle-aged man in the audience how he would like Colorado Boulevard to be—as a street that primarily serves commuters or one that serves the community. “I think we should take it back to serve the community,” the man replied, prompting many in the audience to cheer and clap.

Early in the meeting, , whose office is a partner in the TBTB plan, praised Eagle Rock as a self-sustaining neighborhood whose community-conscious initiatives rightly deserve the City’s support.

To read more about Take Back the Boulevard’s mission and goals, as expressed by its steering committee chair Bob Gotham and members Bob Arranaga and Allen Compton, click here.

The next TBTB public meeting will be held in early 2012 and will be based partly on continued public input, including surveys, regarding the initiative.

Take Back the Boulevard's supporters include 11 Eagle Rock-based organizations, ranging from the Center for the Arts and TERA to the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council and the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce. To learn more, visit the Take Back the Boulevard website.


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