Studio City : Traffic Proposal Triggers Protest

Armed with a petition containing more than 200 signatures, a group of Studio City residents appealed to Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky on Thursday to reconsider his plan to block a popular rush-hour escape route.

Members of the Studio City Residents Assn. and Briarcliff Improvement Assn. said the councilman’s plan to prohibit left-hand turns from northbound Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Laurel Terrace Drive and other sides streets would add to congestion on the busy thoroughfare.

Yaroslavsky, who said he was unaware of any opposition to the plan until just recently, said Thursday he would give the idea more thought.

“There seem to be a lot of hard feelings around this issue and we’re going try to resolve them,” the councilman said. “Nothing will be implemented until I speak to both sides again.”

Under the plan, transportation officials would post signs prohibiting left turns from northbound Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Laurel Terrace Drive and Maxwellton and Viewcrest roads between 4 and 7 p.m.

Use of the popular escape route--which motorists have used for years to avoid the traffic-choked intersection of Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards--had drawn fire from some residents of the streets, who complained that the additional traffic was a nuisance and a safety hazard.

Yaroslavsky said his plan was drafted in response to such complaints.

But while the board of directors of the the Studio City Residents Assn. voted this month to support the plan, one member of the association said the group is split over the decision.

John De Pascale, a member who is leading the effort to preserve the shortcut, maintains that prohibiting the turns would create “a traffic nightmare” on Laurel Canyon and make it difficult for people who live in the impacted neighborhoods to get home in the afternoon.

But association president Tony Lucente said the board’s decision was based on the issue of safety.

“I think the board felt overwhelmingly that this was simply a question of safety versus convenience, and we voted based on the facts, Lucente said.”