No Solution Yet To Gahr High School Traffic Congestion

By Larry Caballero

Cerritos residents began showing up early for the Special Meeting of the Cerritos City Council at the Performing Arts Center on Aug. 25 to learn what the City or ABC School District were going to do about the traffic congestion that occurs each morning and afternoon when parents drop off or pick up their teenagers from Gahr High School.
In attendance were all five members of City Council, ABC Superintendent Gary Smuts, Associate Superintendent Mary Sieu, Board members David Montgomery and Sophia Tse and the Principal and Assistant Principal of Gahr.
The problem isn’t new—the school was built in 1965, and from the time it was opened, Gahr was heavily attended. In 1972, the District converted the school to double session until ABC could complete construction of Cerritos High School in 1973. Gahr’s annual attendance is currently 2,020 students.
Gahr is located in the westerly portion of the district, but many of the students live east of the school. Consequently, pedestrian and automobile traffic has been an issue with many residents for a very long time. Typically, a majority of students arrive between 7:45 and 8:00 am and leave campus between 2:30 and 2:45 pm.
Over the years, the City has been contacted several times by residents who live near the school who are concerned with issues relating to the heavy traffic. Specifically, they are worried about cars blocking the street, making u-turns, using driveways to drop students and with pedestrians who congregate near the homes at the entrance to Mapes Avenue leaving litter and graffiti behind.
Numerous residents have contacted City staff and requested such solutions as limiting turns, providing additional signage, providing additional law enforcement, and installing a traffic signal. They have also requested that the City work with the School District on improving the unload/load capacity within Gahr High thereby reducing student drop off and pick up related traffic in the residential tracts adjacent to the school.
In 2007, several residents approached staff again regarding the problems, and in response, staff retained the services of Hartzog & Crabill, Inc. (HCI) Consulting Traffic Engineers, to conduct a traffic circulation analysis for the entire area. Its findings supported the residents’ concerns and suggested the creation of an on-campus loading/unloading zone of sufficient length that should provide the necessary convenience to serve all students being dropped off during the morning peak hour.
In 2008, the City approved the HCI/City Staff/ABC Administration plan to improve traffic circulation at Gahr at a cost of $130,000. It was hoped that the plan coupled with an aggressive education program administered by the School District would result in improvements to the neighborhood concerns. Unfortunately, residents continue to complain and parents continue to utilize the area neighborhoods to drop off and pick up students.
The City is considering six options that could potentially provide some relief to the issues raised by the Mapes residents:
• Increased law enforcement/security
• Staggered starting/ending school schedule
• Create No Stopping/Standing/Parking zones on Mapes Avenue
• Install a traffic signal at Mapes and Artesia
• Convert the neighborhood to a gated private community
• Close Mapes Avenue at Artesia Boulevard
Unfortunately, each of the options may lead to additional problems. Increased law enforcement and security is not feasible due to budgetary concerns which leaves three motorcycle officers to patrol 22 school sites with similar hours of attendance and similar traffic congestion and law enforcement issues.
A staggered school schedule may be difficult to implement and would be at the discretion of the School District and the Gahr Administration. A No Parking Zone would have limited impact since cars are parking only long enough to drop off or pick up. A traffic signal may encourage even more use of this location to drop off and pick up students, and a gated community would necessitate the creation of a Home Owners Association (HOA), the installation and maintenance of gates and the privatization of the streets and public rights-of-ways.
Closing Mapes at Artesia would be very expensive and may lead to additional traffic measures. Closing Mapes at Artesia with a service gate has the same issues. Consequently, City staff was seeking input from the impacted residents as well as from City Council as to the best course of action to take in exploring additional traffic congestion measures for this neighborhood.
Mayor Bruce Barrows said the Aug. 25 meeting was an attempt to correct the traffic congestion at Gahr and encouraged the 80 residents in attendance to speak. One resident stated that he has called the School District in the past to only be told that it isn’t their problem. Another resident of 40 years complained that it is impossible to go shopping or make a doctor’s appointment during the time of school opening and closing because of so many cars blocking her street. She also complained about speeding on Gridley from the 91 Freeway and sometimes her house will shake. One car crashed into a neighbor’s home when he couldn’t make a turn onto Artesia. “I’ve complained in the past, but the problem still exists. There are too many kids and cars.”
One resident was worried about property values with so many teenagers loitering and ditching school during school hours. She suggested issuing more citations to the drivers and pedestrians who are not obeying the laws. Yet another said it takes her 20 minutes to drive by four houses in the morning and suggested No U-Turn signs for non-residents.
A resident said that she called the Vice-Principal at Gahr who told her that there’s nothing that can be done, but she doesn’t believe it. She asked, “What is the school doing to resolve these problems? We’re living the nightmare every day.” She accused school administration of not doing their job. “Lip service is not enough.”
Barrows reminded residents that the City does not have authority over the School District but is sure the District wants to work with the City to find solutions. Superintendent Smuts said t the District has mailed numerous letters to parents, made announcements to students, made phone calls and wrote articles in the Community News asking parents and students to drive safely and legally.
Councilmember Laura Lee felt that “we have to keep working hard because there is always a solution to every problem.” Councilmember Jim Edwards said he knows the problems since he was an educator at Gahr for 30 years. “It’s a matter of respect for the law,” he said. Councilmember Carol Chen asked several questions of staff and Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Cho wanted to take an informal survey of the residents who were present at the meeting. He was interested to know which city options that were mentioned that night were acceptable to the residents. Mayor Barrows told Cho they were not going to do any surveys that night.
Cho understood that the survey would not be a scientific one, but he was still interested in getting input from the residents. Again, Barrows told Cho they were not going to do any surveys. The City will probably choose to do a more scientific survey in the future.
Property Preservation Commissioner Alon Barlevy suggested one option could be retractable steel bars on Mapes that would be implemented in the morning and afternoon times. “It may be expensive, but it’s technically feasible.” Councilmembers Lee and Cho asked City staff to research and/or modify Barlevy’s suggestion and to report back to the Council.