BUENA PARK : Residents Organize to Block Realignment

Residents of the upscale Bellehurst area are banding together to fight a City Council decision to realign Burlingame Avenue so that it connects with Dale Street.

By creating a four-way signalized intersection at Dale, residents say, it will add more traffic to the neighborhood, devalue their properties and degrade their quality of life.

More than 50 residents met Thursday night at a nearby school to organize opposition to the project. A petition aimed at stopping the project is already circulating in the neighborhood, said Burlingame resident Teri Raymondo.

“We’ve decided that we are definitely united on the issue,” Raymondo said.

Residents also discussed the possibility of a recall effort of the three council members who voted for the realignment.

“It’s up to them to realize the impact on this street is going to be horrendous,” Raymondo said. “But we’re holding off (on a recall) in hopes they will see the light and they will choose to do the right thing.”

Raymondo said residents are also expected to attend Tuesday’s City Council meeting--changed from today because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday--to voice their opposition once again to the council members.

At the Jan. 3 meeting, the council voted to approve the Burlingame realignment plan, despite stiff opposition from residents at a public hearing in December. The project, estimated to cost as much as $9 million, also includes building a railroad underpass on Dale Street.

Other alternatives included realigning Dale with Monticello Avenue, which also leads to the residential tract, or leaving it as a T-intersection that ends at Malvern Avenue.

Residents also criticized the city’s environmental study on the project.

“Our street is going to become one of the main thoroughfares in and out of the area,” Raymondo said. “There hasn’t been action by the City Council to safeguard our area.”