ANAHEIM : Residents Ask City to Fence Off District

A group of Anaheim residents, angry at what they call the excessive flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic near their homes, asked the City Council Tuesday to build fences to close off the neighborhood.

Residents in the nearly 15-year-old tract of more than 50 homes say the streets are used as a shortcut to avoid busy Kraemer Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue. The excess traffic brings crime and reckless drivers, leaving many homeowners fearful to let their children play outside, residents contend.

“I think we have a legitimate concern for the health and safety of our children,” said Delbert Yarbrough, a homeowner in the tract. “This is not a healthy thing.”

The council approved building a wrought-iron fence to close Cardinal Street at Crowther Avenue, which limits tract entry and exit to one street.

The residents have agreed to pay for either a street closure, a sidewalk closure or both, which will cost about $13,000 for the street, and about $22,000 for both the street and the sidewalk.

More than 75 residents gathered at the City Council meeting to support the closures and tell about the problems they say the traffic has brought.

A few years ago, the group won city approval to close off Kensington Avenue to the main streets, but that only shifted traffic to other neighborhood streets, they said.

City departments, including police and fire, preferred closing Crowther Avenue because other entrances to the tract are more accessible in emergency situations. And the maintenance department preferred closing that street because Cardinal Street offers better entry access for street sweeping equipment.