The 400 strong crowd cheered when PRNC Vice President Paula Cracium inquired of the LADOT, “Why restoring the two lanes on Wilbur to four is not an option?” at the joint meeting of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council and the Northridge West Neighborhood Council at Nobel Middle School on March 15, 2011.

The two boards met to hear the proposed compromise solution developed by LADOT and the Wilbur Working Group Committee formed by Councilman Smith to address the many impassioned concerns about traffic and safety after Wilbur had been restriped from four lanes to two late last summer.

The compromise plan presented by Amir Sedadi, Interim General Manager, LADOT, was designed to promote safety and the character of the neighborhood. It called for returning Wilbur between Chatsworth and Devonshire to four lanes, with bike lanes pushed up against the sidewalk. Street parking would be removed to accommodate the additional lanes. As no houses faced the street in this stretch of Wilbur, street parking is not necessary. South of Devonshire, southbound traffic would have 650 feet, approximately one block, to merge from two lanes into one to allow for street parking and the continuing bike lane. At this point in Wilbur, some houses face Wilbur and require parking. The street is not wide enough south of Wilbur to accommodate four lanes of traffic, parking and bike lanes. The compromise plan would use standard sized lane widths and cost about $40,000 over six to eight weeks of implementation.

Based on public comments and vocal cheering, the crowd seemed to be largely in favor of returning Wilbur to its original striping plan with four lanes. Several speakers asserted that there were few cyclists on the bike lanes and that the lanes were extra wide. One stakeholder called for the City Councilman’s Office to ask the police to cease ticketing those who drive in the bike lanes. One parent declared the bike lane dangerous and said he has told his children to ride on the sidewalk, he would pay the ticket. An LAPD sergeant clarified that it is legal to ride on the sidewalk, if you use due care. Residents who live on Vanalden explained that the traffic has diverted onto their street.

In response to PRNC board member Pat Pope, DOT confirmed that Wilbur is a designated “Secondary Highway” intended for through and local traffic. The tenor of the crowd seemed to believe that the bike lane was imposed by the Mayor and vigorously called for his attendance at the meeting to rectify the problem.

On the other side of the conversation were those who live on Wilbur who stated during public comment that they liked the change and the slower traffic. Those who live in “landlocked” communities that only feed out onto Wilbur emphasized the importance of the recently added left turn lanes allowing for safer access to their neighborhoods.

The chief impediment to reverting Wilbur to its original configuration is the March 1, 2011 approval of the 2010 Bicycle Plan by the City Council. The Mayor approved the plan on January 28, 2011 and recommended its approval to the City Council. The City Council voted unanimously to approve it. The purpose of the plan is to transform Los Angeles from an auto-centric City to a City with a multi-modal transportation system. The plan calls for 1,680 miles of bikeway facilities and proposes three new bicycle networks (Backbone, Neighborhood and Green). The Bike Plan Map shows Wilbur as part of the Neighborhood Bikeway Network. See www.labikeplan.org.

Councilman Greig Smith was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mitch Englander, who was elected and will become Councilman on July 1, 2011. Englander confirmed that he was at the meeting as the Chief of Staff and that the Councilman’s position was that Wilbur should be reverted to its original configuration. Further, this problem was created by the reporting relationships between departments and the Mayor. The DOT General Manager reports to the Mayor, rather than the City Council. When the problem was first discussed between the Councilman and DOT, DOT was less than responsive. Smith has proposed a motion calling for Neighborhood Councils to be regularly part of any discussion with DOT on such changes.

Amidst the public clamoring for four lanes on all of Wilbur and the lack of a four lane option, the PRNC was in a quandary. Multiple board members inquired about how to eliminate the bike lane to gain four lanes and even discussed how to prevent quorum and a vote in order to send that message. Members wanted to know if abstaining would send that message. It was confirmed that to abstain was to vote no. There was a reluctance to vote for what was perceived as an incomplete solution.

Also, board members did not have time to preview the plan or discover the immovable obstacle that is the Bicycle Plan. PRNC board members took the issues and concerns to heart and voted together with the Northridge West Neighborhood Council to turn the plan down. The vote was 9 for, 3 against, and 7 abstentions. This gave the compromise plan opponents what they wanted. However the vote is only advisory to the Councilman.

By Wendy L. Moore. This article appeared in the April 2011 North Valley Community News