ANAHEIM : Barrier Compromise Meant to Cut Traffic

Residents on two streets in the Citron-Hall neighborhood will soon have gates and barricades to prevent pedestrian and vehicle traffic, which some say has caused noise and other problems in recent months.

The temporary barricades were a compromise between an 8-foot cinder-block wall that some residents had requested and the city’s position of not building a wall except as a last resort.

The City Council agreed this week to allocate $15,000 of federal grant money. Residents had at first been told that they would have to pay for the concrete wall, because the city requires all affected city departments to agree to street closures, and several departments declined.

Julianna Avenue residents asked the city last fall to build the wall after complaining that neighbors on the west end of the street were responsible for speeding cars and excessive pedestrian traffic.

However, west end residents, many of whom have no cars and walk to nearby services, opposed the wall, which they said would make it difficult for them to get out of the neighborhood to jobs and stores.

The residential street of single-family homes was built nearly 40 years ago and ended in a cul-de-sac. In the late 1960s, developers extended Julianna and built dense apartment complexes on the west side. The former cul-de-sacs are now empty circles in the middle of the street.

When residents on nearby Victor Avenue learned of their neighbors’ request to wall off their street, they argued that the traffic would shift to their street and also requested barricades.

The council agreed to the temporary closure by a 4-0 vote, with Mayor Fred Hunter absent.