Street Safety Celebrated at Mandeville Canyon

The $2.1-million-dollar street project, which included newly constructed left-hand-turn pockets, left-turn lights and widening Sunset Boulevard at Mandeville Canyon was officially celebrated on Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. A podium was set up on the corner of that intersection and Councilman Bill Rosendahl officially welcomed the more than 40 people who attended. ‘Gridlock was one of the main issues I ran on in my campaign, and Sunset is one of the most gridlocked streets in the city,’ Rosendahl told the invited crowd. There were four intersections on Sunset that were targeted for improvement. In addition to Mandeville and Sunset, a left-hand turn light at Kenter was installed, the plans are done for a left-hand turn signal at Via de la Paz, and money is being raised for new light at Los Liones Drive, near the Waldorf School. According to Rosendahl, there are an additional 34 intersections on the Westside that need attention. ‘We need to find $100 billion over the next 15 years to get the massive traffic relief we need,’ Rosendahl said. ‘We need commitment from federal, state and local officials.’ In addition to Rosendahl, other speakers included Lower Mandeville Canyon homeowner’s association president Marianne Pearl, who thanked the councilman for finishing a project that began 23 years ago with Councilman Marvin Braude. She praised the city for listening to their pleas, so that instead of concrete sidewalks they were able to have decomposed granite, and redwood benches instead of cement. ‘We designed the landscaping, but the city paid for it,’ she said. Upper Mandeville Canyon homeowner’s association president Wendy Rosen said, ‘It is unprecedented that all three [homeowners] groups came together like we did for this project.’ ‘We’ve taken an intersection that was dysfunctional and now it’s functional,’ said Brentwood Hills Homeowner association president Eric Edmonds. Although the finished project cut into Los Angeles Unified School District property, no district officials were present. Before the ceremony, Art Copper, principal of Paul Revere Charter Middle School, thanked Rosendahl for fine-tuning the timing on the light at the intersection, as well as helping to get public transportation back to Revere on Tuesday and Thursdays. ‘Kids are a number-one issue,’ Rosendahl said. Copper agreed and added, ‘Safety is first: without that, the campus is not conducive to a quality education.’ For students and residents, the improved safety at that intersection is a welcome relief.