Brownies try to improve crossing safety
Members of Brownie Troop 6025 pose with a crossing guard at Hermosa View School. The troop has been lobbying the city to make the crossing at Prospect Avenue safer. Photo by Christine Schultz
The average age of speakers in public comment periods at Hermosa Beach City Council meetings tilts more heavily toward retirees than students. But last Tuesday it drifted lower than normal after an entire Brownie troop addressed the council in sequence.
Ten members of Brownie Troop 6025 addressed the council to ask for the council’s help in improving crosswalk safety at Hermosa View School. They laid out a variety of possible solutions, some of which staff promised to look into.
Parent Christine Shultz sent a letter to the council in advance of the meeting, explaining the lengthy distance between stop signs at 19th Street and Prospect Avenue, on the school’s northern border, and the main entrance at 17th Street. Drivers often speed past, seemingly unaware that the school is even there.
“Parents, children and our crossing guard witness traffic violations in our school zone on a daily basis,” Shultz wrote.
Prospect has been the subject of several discussions about traffic safety in the city. Resident Veronica Moffitt was killed in September 2016 while riding a scooter through the intersection of Prospect and Aviation Boulevard. Several residents on the street complained of speeding on the street, relied on by commuters trying to avoid Pacific Coast Highway. Shortly thereafter, the city placed sensors at various parts of the avenue to measure the speed of passing cars.
But efforts to improve safety on the street have not always generated support. Last year, when the city was considering applying for a grant to study potential safety enhancements on Prospect, some residents blanched. Following the closure of lanes on Vista Del Mar last summer, they worried that the city was planning to close a lane on the street.
No such plans have been made public, but city Environmental Analyst Leeanne Singleton has considered a number of possibilities to improve safety, including additional crosswalks to the south on 14th and 15th street to break up the flow of traffic. Following the Brownie Troop’s presentation, City Manager Sergio Gonzalez said that staff would consult with the Hermosa Beach Police Department about one of the youth’s suggestions: the possibility of stationing an unoccupied squad car on Prospect to ward off potential speeders.