PACOIMA : Neighbors Get Their Wish for Traffic Light

For four years, Ray Jackson estimates, Pacoima residents begged Los Angeles for a traffic light at the T-shaped intersection of Vaughn Street and Foothill Boulevard.

Jackson, president of the Northeast Valley Community Improvement Assn., said residents even offered to pay for the light out of an amenities fund established by Lopez Canyon Landfill for surrounding communities.

The light was badly needed, Jackson said, because of heavy traffic from the nearby San Fernando Swap Meet on weekends and Tuesdays.

Finally, it looks as though the light will be installed, allowing residents of northeast Pacoima to leave and enter their neighborhood in an orderly and timely fashion. The light has been placed on the “fast track” for implementation of traffic improvements, said a spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents Pacoima.

And the cost--$70,000--will come out of the city’s pocketbook, not the amenities fund, city officials said.

At an upcoming meeting of the improvement association, Jackson will discuss the traffic light and other public works projects needed in Pacoima.

“We’re going to talk about other improvements in the community,” Jackson said. “We need more street lights; we need to discuss our Neighborhood Watch and police patrol. People can come to the meeting and express their problems; maybe we can do something about them.”

The meeting, open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Plant, 1200 Arroyo Ave., San Fernando.