STANTON : Council to Tackle Problem of Speeders

Solving the problem of speeders on Santa Rosalia Street will be undertaken by the City Council, which was reminded by a resident last week of a girl who was hit by a motorist there a decade ago while riding her bicycle.

The council decided to study the problem after Loreen Berlin, near tears, told the tragic tale of Liana Townsend, now 23, who became mentally impaired as a result of being struck.

“What kind of price tag do you place on human life?” Berlin asked the council.

Council members said they will try to install a stop sign or a flashing red light at one of the intersections--possibly at Bently Avenue--where children are often at play.

Building speed bumps also was considered for Santa Rosalia, which is often used by motorists to reach Beach Boulevard while avoiding Chapman and Lampson avenues, which are sometimes congested.

Capt. Bob Eason of the Sheriff’s Department, which provides law enforcement for the city, said he will try to dispatch a squad car at the intersections in the neighborhood at least 15 minutes every day.

“That way, we’ll have a little presence,” he said. “But we really need a radar gun to enforce speeding over there.”

Eason said Santa Rosalia is only half a mile long, too short for officers to get behind speeding motorists and successfully clock them.

The city did away with the radar gun two years ago, he said, after two traffic units were redeployed to crime-ridden areas--a move that led to a decrease in violent crime in the city.

Liana’s father, Duane Townsend, has a solution: “Put up a sign at both ends of the housing tract that says ‘Not a Through Street.’ ”

“This has been going on a long time,” Townsend said. “The people who go through the tract--most of them--aren’t residents; they’re just beating a signal around the railroad tracks or whatever is holding them up.”