BUENA PARK : Street Realignment Angers Residents

Dale Street will be realigned at Malvern Avenue with Burlingame Avenue--a residential street into the Bellehurst neighborhood--the City Council decided Monday.

The council’s 3-2 decision, with councilwomen Donna L. Chessen and Rhonda J. McCune dissenting, angered Burlingame Avenue residents who believe realigning Dale with their street will add traffic and speeders to their neighborhood.

Ronald Burch, a 10-year Burlingame resident and retired firefighter, said the council’s decision “stinks.”

“They’re not listening to anybody but themselves,” Burch said.

The council was faced with deciding which of the two residential streets, Burlingame Avenue or Monticello Avenue, should be aligned with Dale Street, or if Dale should remain as a T-intersection that dead-ends at Malvern Avenue.

City officials, as well as the conclusion of an environmental impact report, recommended Burlingame.

Marty and Teri Raymondo, who have lived on Burlingame since 1986, also were disappointed with the decision, causing them to consider selling their home, the couple said after the meeting.

“Obviously we’re unhappy,” Marty Raymondo said. The council “was thinking with their pocketbook and greed. They see the opportunity. They want the state money and they don’t care who it hurts.”

The project, estimated to cost up to $9 million, includes the realignment as well as the construction of a railroad underpass on Dale Street north of Artesia Boulevard. The project will be paid with state, county and local money, including $5 million from the Public Utilities Commission for the railroad underpass.

Teri Raymondo also said Burlingame has a problem with speeding motorists and fears it will get worse when it becomes a four-way signal intersection with Dale Street.

“The problem is nobody drives the speed limit,” she said, adding she prefers leaving Dale Street as it exists to avoid traffic impacts to either Burlingame or Monticello.

Burlingame Avenue is the better alternative because it would improve traffic flow and visibility, reducing the potential for accidents while increasing traffic safety, said Donald K. Jensen, director of public works.

Chessen said she voted against the Burlingame Avenue realignment because she favors Monticello Avenue as the better alternative.

Chessen added that she still favored the project and called it a “coup” that the city will receive the state money for the underpass construction.

McCune said she wasn’t happy with any of the realignment proposals and preferred to “do nothing” at this time.

As a last-ditch effort, Chessen and McCune voted to leave Dale Street as a T-intersection. But the council majority disagreed.

McCune also said she empathized with Burlingame residents: “If I lived on Burlingame, I would be just as emotional as the people who live on Burlingame.”

Councilman Arthur C. Brown said, leaving emotions and politics aside, he voted for the Burlingame realignment because it makes the most sense.

“Burlingame is the only safe way to do that intersection,” Brown said.

Dale Street is planned to be closed during the 12 months of construction, expected to begin in October.