The Signal Corps : Residents Press for Traffic Light at Crossing Where Girl Was Killed

Lakewood Mayor Larry Van Nostran, responding to impassioned pleas from Hawaiian Garden residents, said he will try to get a traffic light installed at a crosswalk on the border between the two cities where a teen-ager was recently killed.

More than 60 residents, shuttled in Hawaiian Gardens vans to the Lakewood City Council meeting Tuesday, testified that crossing Centralia Road at Elaine Avenue is unsafe. Speeding motorists have long posed a danger to pedestrians, including dozens of students from nearby schools who cross the street daily, residents said.

“I’ve almost gotten hit by a police officer. That’s how bad it is,” said Jennifer Sampson, 15, who crosses Centralia Road on her way to Artesia High School.

A recent Lakewood study documented 25 traffic accidents at the intersection in five years, with six of the incidents since the start of this year. Of the total, four involved pedestrians. On Feb. 13, a motorist struck and killed Stephanie Iniguez, 18, in the crosswalk, which is in Lakewood on the Hawaiian Gardens border.

“If somebody else dies there, I feel from the bottom of my heart that the blood is on your hands,” Stephanie’s sister Yvette Iniguez, 22, told the council.

Stephanie Iniguez was crossing the street after visiting her father, who lives in the Hawaiian Gardens Apartments, a 264-unit complex on the south side of Centralia Road, when the accident occurred. She was returning to her car.

Many residents of the complex cross Centralia at the crosswalk to get to the high school or a bus stop on the Lakewood side.

City staff said traffic at the intersection is not heavy enough to warrant a traffic light. But Van Nostran told the residents that the cash-strapped city will seek county funds to install a signal. Hawaiian Gardens has offered to split the estimated $60,000 cost.

“We’ll get this thing resolved one way or another in a way that I hope everybody will be pleased,” Van Nostran told the residents. “We hear you loud and clear.”

The City Council took no action on the matter, but Van Nostran asked that the item be placed on the June 8 agenda and said he expected council support for it.

In an interview after the meeting, Van Nostran said the city might dip into its own coffers if county funds are unavailable. “We’re going to find the money somewhere,” he said.

Hawaiian Gardens Councilwoman Kathleen Navejas, who attended the Lakewood meeting, said Hawaiian Gardens has offered to pay any additional costs to install stop signs at the crossing while the traffic light is being planned. She said the two cities will work together to find the funds needed to erect a traffic signal.

“In times of crisis, we need to find the necessary funds to protect people,” Navejas said. “I really believe that Lakewood will do it. They’re going to dig into their pocketbooks.”

Lakewood officials said they are aware of the severity of the traffic problems and of the residents’ concerns. As a result of the recent rash of accidents, the city put up extra signs to warn motorists of the crossing, repainted the crosswalk and stepped up police patrols. The speed limit also has been reduced from 40 to 35 m.p.h., and on Tuesday new speed limit signs were posted on Centralia Road between Norwalk and Pioneer boulevards.

On June 7, the city’s Community Safety Commission will consider plans to reduce the four-lane roadway to two lanes. The commission will also consider building a median strip or adding bike and turning lanes to help protect pedestrians.

But city staff have said traffic problems at the street do not justify a traffic light. In a report to the commission, Carl Brooks, the director of public works, said the amount of traffic on the street would not qualify the site for a light under state guidelines. Brooks said a traffic light might create problems for motorists and pedestrians, such as rear-end collisions. He said the greatest number of accidents in the city occurs at intersections with traffic lights.

“It’s not that we are totally against putting in traffic signals,” Brooks said. “We are against putting in traffic signals that will not serve their intended purpose. Accidents are caused by people acting irresponsibly. Putting a signal or stop sign in will not stop those things from happening.”

Sgt. Don Reeves of the Lakewood sheriff’s station said traffic and accidents at the intersection are no greater than those at other intersections in the two cities.

“They don’t need a stop sign or a traffic signal. We have intersections with a lot more activity than this one,” said Reeves, the traffic sergeant for Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood. “The city has done a great deal to make that crosswalk more visible. I think the reason you’re getting so much heat right now is because someone was killed recently.”

Residents said that officials do not appreciate the scope of the problem, and that they are waiting cautiously to see that the Lakewood City Council follows through on Mayor Van Nostran’s pledge.

“I’m always crossing that street, and you never know what’s going to happen,” said Richard Montoya, 36, whose home is at the intersection in Lakewood. “I have kids, but it’s not safe for them to play in the yard. The light will give people the right of way they deserve.”