LETTER: Other Areas of Pacific Palisades Need Attention

A resident had concerns about Santa Monica Canyon.

A reader sent the following letter to Circling the News and it was shared with Councilmember Tracy Park’s office.

With the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades, a portion of Pacific Palisades has been overlooked for years and is the most neglected mile in CD 11: Santa Monica/Rustic Canyon.

As you reenter Los Angeles from Santa Monica on 7th Street, which becomes Entrada Drive, you enter what is the most neglected mile in CD-11. When entering the city, the reference to the area as Santa Monica Canyon is confusing, as it is Los Angeles, part of Pacific Palisades. It would be clearer if referred to as Rustic Canyon, a sub-area of Pacific Palisades.

At the city limits of Adelaide and Entrada/7th, pedestrians struggle to cross the street, and there is no painted crosswalk to warn drivers. Further down the hill, much of the hillside has fallen into the shoulder, forcing cyclists and pedestrians into the traffic lane. As you navigate the turn on Entrada at Kingman, there is a regular collection of gravel in the road, often leading to fallen cyclists.

Next, at the bus stop at Entrada and Stassi, residents struggle to cross the street from the bus due to the lack of an ADA ramp, and the painted crosswalk was removed years ago.

Entering the school zone, which for some reason has no parking on both sides of the street in this portion of it, the posted speed limit is 25 mph, not 15 mph as allowed, and there are no speed humps, leading to speeding. The school zone quickly ends only two houses from the school, not the allowed 500 feet.

Heading towards the beach, you get in line to turn right onto Chautauqua, only to get stuck behind an illegally parked vehicle. After overcoming that, you then get stuck behind a driver who changed their mind about turning right on red onto Chautauqua and decides to try and change lanes and wait for the green light and traffic to dissipate to proceed onto PCH North. This completes what is considered the most neglected mile in CD-11.

To rectify these issues, the following needs to be done. The Council Office response follows each suggestion.

1. Refer to or name the complete Santa Monica Canyon Area as Rustic Canyon (so people think the City of Santa Monica is responsible, rather than Los Angeles, which has responsibility). Naming or renaming a community requires significant community input and a formal process. It cannot be determined by a single request from a single individual. To date, no other person or community organization has raised this issue.
2. Install a painted crosswalk at the city limit across Entrada at Adelaide. Both sides of the street already have stop signs. Because this is the city boundary with Santa Monica, LADOT would need to assess jurisdictional issues and conduct a traffic study.
3. Clean/clear up the shoulder of Entrada and shore up the hillside. Our office has not received complaints on this location, and the specific area is unclear. We are open to additional details so it can be evaluated.
4. Have regularly street cleaning on Entrada (you could reassign from an area of the weekly street cleaning to Entrada every other week). Bureau of Street Services confirms that Palisades streets, including Entrada, are not on street sweeping routes. Reassigning service from another neighborhood is not feasible at this time.
5. Paint the crosswalk back in at Stassi across Entrada. Records for more than 20 years show there has not been a painted crosswalk at this location.
6. Make it ADA accessible to catch the bus midhill (students, elderly, and household help often carry heavy supplies on and off the bus ). The Stassi stop, which is mid-hill, has been ADA-accessible since 2017 and includes a bench and ramp.
7. Reduce the speed limit in the school zone to 15 mph on Entrada. Our office is reviewing this with LADOT. The agency prioritizes locations with the highest demonstrated risk.
8. Add speed humps to the school zone on Entrada. CD11 has already submitted a formal request to LADOT for speed humps on Entrada.
9. Restore parking to the school zone on Entrada. Parking along Entrada by the school has not been removed.
10. Increase the school zone to 500 feet on all sides of the school. Current signage and speed limit markers are in place along Entrada in compliance with LADOT standards.
11. Enforce illegal parking on Entrada near PCH. As with all parking violations, people are encouraged to  report directly to Parking Enforcement for prompt response.
12. Put in cones/bollards to ensure once in the right turn only lane to Chautauqua, you must turn right. Our office has raised this with LADOT, and the issue is also part of AECOM’s ongoing transportation study at the community’s request.

Tracy Park’s office said, “We remain in constant communication with neighbors and organizations representing Rustic Canyon, including the Canyon Alliance, BOCA, and PPCC. We take concerns from the community seriously and address them as they come in.”