By Ellen Vukovich
Sherman Oaks activist
Driving south on Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks recently, I tried to avoid the congestion around the 101 Freeway so I turned onto Riverside where I was greeted by absolute gridlock .
I looked to my left and saw the cause for the traffic: Los Angeles City Street Service workers are repaving a portion of Riverside. It was obvious that these repairs were scheduled on a Saturday in an attempt to avoid congesting streets during a workday in front of an already high traffic generating area -- Westfield's Fashion Square Mall. However, the repairs were scheduled the day before Mother's Day when last-minute shoppers needed to make a hasty trip to the local mall to find a nice gift for Mom.
When I finally made it home, a headline in the Daily News caught my eye about traffic. So, I sat down and read all about all of the taxes and fees which are on the drawing board in Sacramento and Los Angeles to alleviate future traffic congestion.
Naturally, I also thought about what happened. While I certainly appreciate the need to think ahead and plan for future growth, I get the feeling that our elected officials haven't learned that they can't lose sight of the need to solve our current problems.
I think if the City took a lesson from Cal Trans, who repairs our freeways while we sleep and on early morning weekends that would be a huge improvement, signaling a shift away from entrenched bureaucratic practices and thinking. In other words, it's time to get creative.
Frankly, I think the true traffic experts in Los Angeles are you, the public. It's too bad that the City of Los Angeles doesn't take advantage of the wealth of ideas all of us have to offer since we pay for so much already with the hope services will improve.
We can still get their attention at the ballot box, provided that we can make it home in time to vote.
Freedom of Information
Many community activists have had to learn how to navigate through another set of the City's various spin doctors, namely the numerous City employees that work for Council Members, Departments of Transportation and Planning.
I suspect they must take a crash course on "How to keep the Public at Bay" because they are pretty consistent in how they handle us when we want critical information. Phone calls, emails, letters go answered or when responded to, they end-up producing more questions because information is incomplete or misleading, thus creating a somewhat frustrating cycle. The objective here is to wear the public down with the hope we will just throw in that proverbial towel.
However, thanks to the ability to send emails, it is much easier to follow-up on errant City employees.
Or, when all else fails - besides emails to Chief of Staffs, Council Members, then we take one simple not-so-known step - we file a request for information under the California Public Records Act, a useful law which is impossible to ignore.
Of course, the key is you still have to keep reminding them to respond in a timely manner
Ellen Vukovich is a board member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association and writes a column for Sun Community Newspapers about land use and other quality of life issues. .
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Ellen: If I remember correctly Antonio promised not long after being elected that he would have the street repairs moved to off-peak hours -- except when he's filling a pot hole for cameras. in the case you site, the idiots just couldn't figure what "off peak" meant. Of course, Antonio also promised to take over the school system, plant a million trees and build a subway to the sea. Just be patient.
Yes indeed more taxes are afoot from Sacramento, and in today's Budget Speech mentioned in the Times but getting no play on tv news which most people watch, he says he's going to steal our "surplus gas taxes" again.
Remember he did that last summer, $1.2 BILLION, which had been promised for just these kinds of road and highway repairs, synchronizing lights, going towards buses and mass transit: Transportation. That's why we dumb voters approved this tax on ourselves. The media was too obsessed with Antonio's love life then to play this up, so now Arnold is clearly emboldened and I imagine with high gas prices the amount he can steal is even greater this year. To be made up with NEW taxes.
Ron, where's the media on this?