BUENA PARK : City to Consider Closing Off Street

They failed to stop the 2,400 cars that zip through the neighborhood each day, but residents along Los Altos Drive may be able to head them off at the Kmart parking lot.

The group came to Monday’s City Council meeting armed with a survey of 190 of the tract’s 280 homes requesting action to reduce traffic on their residential streets.

They lost an appeal for stop signs but won a concession from the city to consider closing off Los Altos at Lincoln Avenue so that it would no longer be a through street.

Cars use Los Altos to reach a Lincoln Avenue shopping center that includes a Kmart department store and an Arby’s, residents said.

Two new stop signs on Los Altos had been recommended by the city’s Traffic Commission but rejected by staff engineers. According to state law, stop signs may be placed only to assign right-of-way to vehicles, not to control the speed or quantity of traffic, said Paul Grimm, the city’s interim traffic engineer.

Council members listened as residents expressed their concerns. “We have many small children who live on Los Altos and feel threatened by the excess of fast-moving cars that constantly frequent this street,” Susan Dopazo said. As a registered nurse who works in a trauma unit, she said, “I see the end results of excessive speed.”

Mayor Don R. Griffin and other council members requested that city engineers come back in 60 days with a study to consider the effects of closing off Los Altos Drive to through traffic at Lincoln.