Traffic Is Bad Everywhere

So, the residents of Encino Hills are upset about traffic on their streets. They should take a look at the Sepulveda Pass if they want to see some traffic. The tortuous drive through those hills can only be a shortcut for some because of the ridiculous level of congestion on the main routes.

Now Councilman Marvin Braude and these residents wish to solve this problem of shortcutting by spending scarce city resources to take away needed public transportation services. City streets, they argue, have been built for locals.

This action would set quite a precedent. On the Santa Monica Mountain routes east of Sepulveda, traffic is horrible. If Braude’s logic is properly applied to the Encino Hills, it should also apply to Laurel Canyon and Beverly Glen boulevards, Benedict Canyon Drive and Roscomare Road. The result would surely be convenient for a few of our city’s wealthier homeowners, but it would be a nightmare for the general commuter.

Of course, the solution is to provide more transportation services, not fewer. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that members of the same Encino Hills community, under the auspices of the Encino Homeowners Assn., have labored tirelessly through the years to block every plan to provide these additional services.

Perhaps the most entertaining is the suggestion that Reseda Boulevard be extended through a corner of Topanga State Park to provide an alternative route. Not only would this be a loss of very scarce recreational resources, it would accomplish nothing more than the moving of traffic from one residential area to another. Hardly a net social gain by any measure.

As of this time, I know of no plans to do anything to relieve the congestion in the Sepulveda Pass. The enormity of this shortsightedness is almost unspeakable. Perhaps Braude would consider devoting some energy to this much more worthwhile end.

JOHN DALY, Sepulveda