Council Candidates' Positions: Traffic Safety

Long Beach has seen a number of pedestrian fatalities on its streets in recent years, not to mention its share of all-too-common traffic infractions. And so traffic safety was on the minds of residents that submitted questions at the Candidates Forum at the Long Beach Library on Oct. 20, when the six men and women running for City Council offered their positions on various issues.

Question: Many of our streets have heavy vehicular traffic. Drivers are often in violation of speed limits. They stop on crosswalks or double park, and drive while talking on cell phones. What would you do to make Long Beach roads safer for pedestrians?

Fran Adelson, a Long Beach real estate agent, Canals resident and Democrat running her second campaign for a Council seat, believes it's most imperative that motorists become more accountable for how they drive, a position that other candidates echoed.

“It comes down to personal responsibility,” said Adelson, who also supports residents petitioning to reduce speed limits in their neighborhoods. “... We’re a city, not a small town. And we all have to be mindful of that.”

Council Vice President Mona Goodman agreed that safer roads materialize mainly when motorists decide to obey traffic laws. “Slow down, pretend that your kids live on this block, and drive accordingly,” said Goodman, a Republican seeking a third term on the Council.

Goodman believes the city may need to send out a community-wide message to citizens to drive home this message, and suggested that before the city’s bicycle-sharing program begins next spring, a bike safety campaign may be in order. “To remind bicyclists that they too have to adhere to the rules of the road the same way that cars do,” she added.

Councilman Len Torres, a retired New York City school administrator who was elected to a two-year term in 2009, supports lowering speed limits in certain neighborhoods, particularly the Presidents Streets, an issue he took directly to the State Assembly.

But the Democratic councilman called this measure a lengthy process, and in the meantime he supports installing speed bumps on streets where residents support them to control speeders.

“Children are in danger,” said Torres, who noted that he’s seen kids biking in the streets while speeders race by them. “ … This is a major, major thing.” 

But Marvin Weiss, an East End resident and Republican in a second bid for a Council seat, is skeptical that reduced speed limits necessarily leads to safer roads.

“We knocked the speed limit down to 45 miles on Lido Boulevard and it’s still a three-lane highway — people treat it that way,” said Weiss, who also wants to find ways to relay the message to motorists to be more responsible.  

He calls for using mobile signs warning motorists to yield for pedestrians that can be placed in crosswalks, particularly in the East End and West End business districts.

While first-time candidate Democrat Scott Mandel said he, too, supports speed reductions in his neighborhood, the Presidents Streets, he believes it is vital that police enforcement back up this measure. He also favors speed bumps, but only after getting public input on the issue.

Mandel emphasized another issue he sees as a traffic hazard: the poor condition of certain roads. “When you have disgusting, broken streets, people treat them like disgusting broken streets,” he said. “If you have a nice area, where maintenance is done regularly, you tend not to abuse that area.”

When police perform enhanced enforcement of speeding or stop sign violations, they invariably find that the offenders predominantly live where their infractions occur, said Council President Thomas Sofield Jr.

The eight-year Republican incumbent pointed out that the city this year installed stop signs on many streets, as well as more speed bumps on West End streets, a measure he vowed the city would follow through on if neighbors agreed to have them. He also said the city may install a red light camera at the Long Beach Boulevard-East Park Avenue intersection, but that the county wants to retain all the funds generated from that program.

“We feel it’s Long Beach Road, and that we should get some of those funds,” Sofield said.