Traffic: More About Montana Avenue Plan

Having experienced the ongoing destruction of Montana Avenue and other city thoroughfares in Santa Monica over the past few years, I was pleasantly surprised to see your article reporting the protest arising over the latest abomination, namely the restriping of the commercial district.

The last thing this neighborhood needs is to become a “pedestrian-friendly” circus, as has happened on Third Street.

Those of us who live here are perfectly capable of walking to and on Montana to do our shopping without help from the city planners.

People from all over Greater L.A. come here to shop and enjoy the ambience of a neighborhood. Residents use Montana as an east-west artery to travel between the beach and West L.A.

This arrangement was working just fine until the city started narrowing the east end of the street and adding signals and stop signs. Now traffic roars through adjacent residential streets, causing accidents and endangering pedestrians.

The city’s answer has been to install new stop signs for people to ignore, thus further impeding transportation and increasing hazards.

Ask anyone who uses Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards how much the barricading of Broadway has improved traffic.

Added to the new 10-second signals that strand pedestrians in crosswalks on Wilshire, these changes are creating citywide gridlock and decay.

I just can’t wait for the jugglers and freak shows to appear on Montana, along with the armed gangsters and bemused tourists wandering across the street through traffic.

The city has done enough damage already. Can’t we just stop it before things get any worse? I propose we send the Santa Monica “planners” to go screw up Westwood or anyplace else but here. Maybe they should study what happened to Westwood before they destroy Santa Monica.

WILLIAM ELSWICK

Santa Monica