Bernson Backs Off on Balboa Boulevard Blockade : Commuters: The councilman postpones a rush-hour traffic ban after a barrage of protests by officials and motorists.

A guaranteed way to stir up a hornet’s nest in Southern California is to tell commuters that they can’t use a cherished shortcut. Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson encountered just such a swarm Thursday and had to turn back.

Stung by opposition from local, county and state officials, Bernson was forced to at least temporarily suspend a move to ban rush-hour commuting on Balboa Boulevard, through Granada Hills neighborhoods that he represents.

The boulevard is a popular alternative to bumper-to-bumper jams on the Golden State Freeway over the Santa Susana Mountains for Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley commuters headed southward to the San Fernando Valley.

Scheduled to take effect next Tuesday, a measure passed by the Los Angeles City Council at Bernson’s request would have prevented right turns by southbound vehicles from San Fernando Road onto Balboa in the morning and left turns off Balboa by northbound traffic in the afternoon.

Signs announcing the turn restrictions were installed this week and publicity about the rules caused sternly worded faxes to begin flying.

City traffic officials already had stated that closing Balboa, a major artery of four to six lanes, would add to freeway headaches by steering between 2,200 and 2,400 vehicles an hour back to the freeway. Caltrans officials said that would lengthen the already annoying rush-hour traffic tie-ups in the area by about four miles.

After standing steadfast most of Thursday, Bernson finally folded. “The councilman will postpone the proposed implementation pending discussions” with officials who think the ban would cause more problems than it would solve, said Ali Sar, a spokesman for Bernson. “He’s going in with an open mind.”

Those who contacted Bernson on Thursday seeking to block the turn ban included state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and the city manager of of Santa Clarita.

Sar said dozens of angry commuters also contacted the councilman’s office.

“I’m real upset about it,” said Shari Gottlieb, a Santa Clarita resident who uses Balboa as a shortcut to her job in the loan department of a Northridge bank. “I think Bernson should try driving a mile in our cars and seeing the situation for himself. I don’t think he’s looking at the whole situation, I just think he’s trying to get votes for himself.”

Bernson is attempting to win the toughest election fight of his City Council career, a June 4 runoff with Los Angeles Board of Education member Julie Korenstein.

Sar said those who live along Balboa, several of whom said they feel like prisoners in their neighborhood, were overwhelmingly supportive of the measure. But protests poured in from every other quarter.

Santa Clarita City Manager George Caravalho wrote to Bernson to complain that the city had not been consulted and to point out that it would set back efforts to reach regional solutions to traffic congestion.

“Rather than choking off a critical regional connector which will result in reallocated traffic congestion and reduced air quality . . . the city of Santa Clarita requests that the Los Angeles City Council rescind the action,” Caravalho’s letter said.

The Santa Clarita City Council had scheduled a meeting Thursday night to consider taking legal steps to block the ban, but canceled it when Bernson said the blockade would be suspended.

Davis, who represents both Santa Clarita and Granada Hills, also pleaded with Bernson to rescind the order, saying it “will be devastating to the traffic mobility, and safety” on the freeway. Antonovich, whose district includes Santa Clarita as well as the Antelope Valley, issued a statement expressing surprise “that the Los Angeles City Council would even consider cutting off this vital transportation link.”

Even some of Bernson’s council colleagues armed themselves to fight him. Councilman Ernani Bernardi, whose district bordering Bernson’s could be inundated by traffic shunted away from Balboa, said the move is illegal and asked that it be studied by the city attorney.

The only source of support for Bernson’s measure came from Balboa Boulevard-area residents.

George Fox, a retiree who lives near the intersection of Lisette Street and Balboa, said it is unsafe to make a left turn there from Balboa’s northbound lanes during morning commute hours because oncoming traffic travels at freeway speeds. “During peak hours I would no more make a left turn there than fly to the moon,” Fox said.

Even so, he said, he has qualms about Bernson’s solution to the problem because it would force commuters to use narrower, more dangerous routes.

The closure of Balboa to commuter traffic is also opposed by state traffic engineers, who said the best way to reduce freeway congestion is to use all available roads. “We believe that we ought to be maximizing all the facilities we have available out there,” said Jerry Baxter, Caltrans district director for Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

“Whether it’s a state highway or a city street is not material,” Baxter said.

Tom Swire, a senior transportation engineer with the city, said Bernson had approached him at least a dozen times during the past four years seeking a solution to growing traffic congestion on Balboa. In response, the city installed four-way stop signs on local streets that were being used as shortcuts between Balboa Boulevard and Rinaldi Street, limited parking during rush hours to free an additional traffic lane, and installed additional left turn lanes.

But, Swire said, Bernson responded to each new traffic control idea by asking for a ban on turns at the San Fernando-Balboa intersection. “That was his solution,” Swire said. “Finally, this year we told him we just wouldn’t do it unless we were instructed to do so by the City Council.”

The ordinance was approved unanimously by the City Council May 7 without discussion. Swire said the move by Bernson, overriding the advice of traffic officials, was unusual, but not unprecedented.