City Council to Review Closure of Poli Street : Ventura: Committee report recommends barricades remain in place and speed bumps be added to other roads to discourage detouring traffic.

Student safety versus traffic concerns will be debated Monday when the Ventura City Council discusses whether to continue blocking off Poli Street at Ventura High School to protect students.

City leaders are scheduled to hear a report from a committee headed by Mayor Tom Buford, which concludes that the east-west artery should remain closed during school hours. But the report also recommends that speed bumps be installed on nearby streets to discourage detouring traffic.

“We tried to come up with a compromise,” Buford said. “It’s a tough issue.”

The council voted in August to close Poli during school hours, but directed a committee to look at alternatives after neighbors complained that the closure pushed hundreds of detouring cars into their hillside neighborhoods.

Barricades were installed on Palomar Avenue and Sunset Drive to discourage detouring motorists. Hillside residents are unhappy with that solution, however, fearing they will have trouble getting in and out of their homes quickly in emergencies.

Now residents are upset about the committee’s speed bump compromise, which they say will not solve the problem. They are continuing to push for reopening Poli.

“Everyone on the hill will raise Cain about (the speed bumps),” said Jack Biller, a hillside resident who sat on the committee. “I don’t think they should do it. They’re unsafe, and they cause wrecks.”

City staff acknowledged that it is generally against city policy to install speed bumps because of the increased liability and potential for accidents that they cause. Each speed bump would cost about $3,000.

School officials are fighting to keep the street closed, saying student safety is more important and that noise from the cars disrupts classroom instruction. Students have testified in front of council members, saying they fear drive-by shootings and pedestrian accidents. Studies have shown that every day, more than 5,000 students cross the street--which bisects the campus--between classes and before and after school.

“It provides for an extremely unsafe situation and the noise is unbearable,” said Helena Torres-Reaves, vice principal at Ventura High School.

Large crowds from both sides are expected to lobby for their cause Monday. But whatever action--if any--the council takes on Monday may be overturned in November by an initiative that hillside residents are trying to get on the ballot.

The council is divided on the issue, but a majority said they are not ready to implement the committee’s recommendation to put in speed bumps instead of the barricades at Palomar and Sunset. Many said they wanted to study the issue further.

“I’m not a big fan of speed bumps,” said Councilman Gary Tuttle, who favors keeping Poli closed. “I think it’s dangerous and it’s a nuisance.”

Councilmen Jack Tingstrom and Jim Monahan said they are sympathetic to the homeowners’ concerns, and Councilmen Steve Bennett and Greg Carson said they have not yet decided how they will vote on the issue. Mayor Buford said he is not inclined to follow his committee’s recommendation if a significant number of hillside residents object to speed bumps. Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures could not be reached for comment.

Council members are proposing other solutions, such as keeping Poli closed only during class breaks and lunchtime, or building a pedestrian overpass over Poli.

The issue of whether Poli should be closed has come before the council in 1974, 1991, 1992 and 1993. In 1974, Poli was closed for a two-week trial period and reopened after hillside residents complained.

“This issue will not be resolved,” Buford said. “Every time we have new council members and every year when school opens, council members will be put to the test.”