City won’t install stop signs near day-care center

Elise Gee

EAST SIDE -- The City Council decided Monday not to create a

four-way stop at the intersection of Magnolia Street and Santa Ana Avenue

where a man plowed his Cadillac into a day-care center playground earlier

this year, killing two children.

City staff began looking into the possibility of placing stop signs at

the intersection after a meeting was held in August by the city,

Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center and residents. At the meeting,

residents complained that a reinforced wall built around the playground

to protect children created a traffic hazard by blocking visibility.

One solution suggested at that time was placing stop signs at the

intersection.

However, city staff found that the intersection does not meet any

required criteria for the installation of stop signs.

The city has already decided to paint a curb on Santa Ana Avenue red

to prevent cars from parking and blocking visibility there.

Councilman Joe Erickson said he did not think it would be appropriate

to install the stop signs. He added that stop signs wouldn’t have stopped

the man who drove into the playground May 3.

In the 3-2 vote, Mayor Gary Monahan and Councilwoman Heather Somers

supported a four-way stop at the intersection.

“My feeling is it wouldn’t hurt our community and certainly not the

East Side to put in one more set of stop signs that could slow traffic

down on that street,” Somers said.

Discussions still need to take place between neighbors and the

day-care center on how to address residents’ concerns about the traffic

hazard.