Paving Over the Problem

In a recent conversation, I assured Madeline DeAntonio, president of the Encino Hillside Traffic Safety Organization, that many hillside residents sympathized with them regarding the traffic burden borne by the residents of Hayvenhurst Drive and feeder streets.

We would be supportive of any solutions that would resolve their problem and would not hurt other hillside residents. But it seemed that DeAntonio would extend her misery to everyone else, put at risk a great urban wilderness set aside by Congress for all Los Angeles residents, and still not solve the problem she and her neighbors face.

When I suggested that we join hands to lobby for the closure of Hayvenhurst Drive at Mulholland Drive, she responded that Encino residents were entitled to use their outlet to Mulholland and were not willing to give it up. However, she demanded that all other roads be connected to Mulholland, which would turn that designated scenic parkway into a bumper-to-bumper commuter route.

I propose that the Encino Hillside Traffic Safety Organization seek a responsible compromise, whether it be the placement of speed bumps and more stop signs on the Hayvenhurst route, the closure of Hayvenhurst during certain peak traffic hours, or lobbying for the more efficient use of designated freeway, rail and boulevard routes.

I would also suggest that DeAntonio rethink the high-growth ethic that has brought about the problem in the first place. We will support her when she stops proposing to hurt us.

The environment DeAntonio would degrade is my habitat. It belongs to people, not to snail darters or to the Mercedes diesels her neighbors are partial to.

JEAN ROSENFELD, Tarzana