Residents Draw Up Sides Over Idea of Barricade

It isn’t even built yet, but a wall is already dividing a hillside community in Encino.

The battling began after Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude last week suggested placing a four-foot-high concrete blockade across Nance Street at Louise Avenue for a 90-day experiment aimed at diverting commuters who daily clog the neighborhood’s streets as they drive to work over the Santa Monica Mountains.

Some residents have embraced the idea. Others say it will do more harm than good.

All agree, however, that traffic is indeed a problem. Homeowners in the neighborhood roughly between Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive have complained for years about gridlock caused by commuters who wind their way through residential streets to skirt traffic along the Ventura and San Diego freeways as well as Ventura Boulevard.

Indeed, a Los Angeles Department of Transportation traffic survey released this summer concluded that 69% of the morning rush-hour trips through the neighborhood are made by motorists from outside the area.

Some of the residents say they must wait 5, 10 or even 20 minutes to sneak out of their own driveways. “We’d get blessed relief,” said Bob Desmond, of the proposed barricade. “We wouldn’t worry anymore about injuries and accidents. And it would be less traffic.”

All 50 households along Mooncrest Drive and Nance Street--two narrow and twisting streets favored by commuters--have signed a petition supporting the blockade and presented it to Braude, said Desmond, who has lived on Nance for 20 years.

But when news of the proposal circulated through the rest of Encino last week, Braude’s office received 20 angry phone calls in two days--an intense response, according to his staff.

“I kind of equate it to a civil war because the two sides are so strong in their beliefs and it is causing a division in the Encino area,” said Barbara Hand, who lives in the hills north of the proposed blockade and is against it.

Opponents say the plan would benefit few at the expense of many, funneling more cars onto streets north of Ventura Boulevard and onto other hillside routes south of the busy thoroughfare.

Parents car-pooling neighborhood children to school complain that the barricade would make it difficult to pick up students scattered throughout the hills.

People on both sides of the issue plan to express their views at community meetings and a hearing of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, which will consider Braude’s proposal on Oct. 9.

Along with the temporary blockade, Braude has proposed banning turns from Louise onto Oak View Drive and from Rancho Street onto Louise between 7 and 9 a.m. because the blockade could force commuters onto these streets.

If the plan is approved, the blockade could be in place by mid-November. And, if the experiment is successful, the temporary cement blocks could be replaced by a permanent steel gate that could be opened by emergency personnel with keys, said Cindy Miscikowski, a Braude aide.

On another front, Braude opposes a different proposal aimed at easing traffic congestion in the area--a plan to extend Reseda Boulevard southward to Mulholland Drive. Last week, Braude joined a City Council committee in urging Gov. Pete Wilson to sign legislation blocking the extension because of environmental concerns. Wilson has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto the bill.