Waterfront residents are well aware of the excessive speeding along Sycamore Avenue in the vicinity of Frog Pad Park. City councilmembers are not because none of them live here.

In the summer of 2008, I posted an article describing several ideal locations for stop signs along Sycamore Avenue, with the stated goal of reducing speed, but the idea was flatly rejected by the City.

In October 2008, I requested the City evaluate the need for a stop sign as a result of the recent opening of the popular Frog Pad Park. I also asked for the City to install “Slow, Children at Play” signs near Frog Pad Park, and that idea was brought to the Traffic Circulation subcommittee. It went nowhere.

Not long after, the City Redevelopment Agency newsletter included a full-page article arguing that “stop signs are usually not an appropriate traffic calming tool on neighborhood streets.” The City did install a speed radar sign adjacent to the Corporation Yard around this time, but drivers have grown accustomed to the scant to zero enforcement, and disobey the law anyway.¹

This past summer, a Waterfront resident drove furiously fast along this stretch of road (known by many as Sycamore Speedway) and crashed his vehicle into the bridge heading into Promenade, requiring significant repair to the bridge.

Within the past two months, signs adorned with the Rotary International symbol were installed urging residents to drive carefully. The signs are white, not yellow (for warning/caution), and do not meet the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which “City engineers are responsible for following,” according to the aforementioned RDA newsletter article. (The sign shown above is the standard MUTCD Series W15-1 Playground sign.)

So I tried again. I asked the City to evaluate taking a more proactive approach — and not accept the status quo (scant enforcement, speeding drivers, children potentially at risk) — by placing concrete tree planters along Sycamore Avenue in the shoulders of the road across from one another in order to reduce the perceived road width (essentially serving as a series of chokers), forcing drivers to slow down. I also asked the City to consider — again — the installation of “Slow, Children At Play” signs, and replace the ineffective, non-standard Rotary signs.

My comments appeared on the agenda for the Traffic Circulation subcommittee meeting as follows…

Baywood resident suggestion to slow traffic by installing:

• Concrete tree planters (or similar) as bulb-outs or chokers along Sycamore Ave. between Tsushima St. and Willet St; and
• “Slow, Children At Play” signs for drivers approaching Frog Pad Park from three directions.

On Tuesday evening, I wanted to make sure that Councilmember Don Kuehne responded to the comments (he sits on the subcommittee), so I asked Kuehne to do so beforehand, and he did, rejecting the idea outright (relying instead solely on enforcement or, in other words, the status quo), but saying that the City will consider the installation of the playground warning signs…

It is not a perfect idea — the cost of maintaining the trees, etc. — but it is a proactive solution, something the City is apparently unwilling to consider. The beat goes on.