Here is a message that LHRA Jim Brennan received on 7/15/09 from Mayor Bill Bogaard:

Dear Neighborhood Association President:
 
I want to be sure that you are aware of the City’s ongoing efforts to manage traffic in our residential neighborhoods, and particularly deal with the question of speed limits on Pasadena streets.  You are aware that there are state law provisions that limit the approaches individual cities use in regard to controlling traffic speed.
 
As a result of our attention to this issue during 2008, we initiated an effort in Sacramento to transfer more power to the City to determine proper practices.  The article below from the Pasadena Star News reflects the outcome of the legislation, at least at this point in time.
 
Nevertheless, our Department of Transportation continues to study the situation and develop, if possible, other approaches that will give Pasadena the fullest opportunity to exercise its judgment in regard to traffic speed for the benefit of our City.  If you are interested in these efforts, please let me or your Councilmember know so that you can be kept informed about the work as it proceeds.
 
Sincerely,
 
BILL BOGAARD
Mayor

City of Pasadena receives setback in bid to use radar to control speeders

By Dan Abendschein, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/28/2009 07:04:08 AM PDT
 
City of Pasadena is seeking a special exemption from state laws in order to lower speed limits on certain streets. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini)
PASADENA - A bill to allow the use of radar enforcement of speed limits on certain streets appears to have fallen victim to critics who called it a money maker disguised as a safety law.
The bill would have applied solely to Pasadena. Along with allowing radar on some city streets, the proposal would have granted exemptions from state law to allow Pasadena to lower speed limits or keep speed limits from increasing on some roads.
Currently cities cannot use radar as an enforcement tool on a lot of local streets. If the legislation were to pass the city would be able to do that, meaning it potentially could write a lot more traffic tickets.
But state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Walnut, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, which was scheduled to hear the bill before it got derailed last week, saw ulterior motives behind the proposal.
"This looks like more of a local revenue-generation bill than a good safety bill," said Huff.
Rather than approving a law solely for Pasadena, Huff suggested the city should abide by the same laws that apply to all other cities in California.
"Speeding laws should be created to make safe roads," he said. "If those laws need to be reviewed that's fine, but it should apply to all cities."
An analysis of the proposal by state officials also concluded there was no evidence that lowering speeds would make local roads safer.
"When asked if there were a safety issue associated with speed on these streets, the city of Pasadena was not able to provide evidence ...that would indicate a safety problem," according to the analysis, which accompanied the bill.
City officials say that the bill would prevent cars from driving too fast on residential roads.
"It's an issue of what speed people who live on those streets think traffic should be traveling at," said Fred Dock, transportation manager.
El Molino Avenue, where residents have long complained about high-speed commuters headed between Pasadena commercial areas and residential areas to the south, is a prime example of where the city would like to have radar enforcement, said Dock.
The speed limit on the road is 25 mph, but the road doesn't meet state requirements that would allow radar to be used.
Traffic in that area was a major political issue in the District 7 council race earlier this year, and neighborhood groups have long considered it a concern.
"It's not just speed but road rage," said Neil Kleinman, president of the Madison Heights Neighborhood Association. "People get into traffic, get frustrated and pull onto side streets...There is a lot of reckless driving in the neighborhoods."
Other roads the city would increase enforcement on if the legislation were ever to pass would be Lida Street, Parkview Avenue, Arroyo Boulevard, La Loma Road, Arden Road, Mountain Street, Sierra Bonita Avenue, Craig Avenue, Sunnyslope Avenue, and Greenhill Road, said Dock.
For now, the legislation does not seem to have much chance of passage.
Michael Tamariz, a spokesman for state Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, who sponsored the bill on Pasadena's behalf, said the proposal appears to be "dead" for now.
The bill garnered little support in the Senate Transportation Committee, which was set to hear the bill Tuesday but chose to defer it for a larger hearing on speeding limits that will take place sometime next fall.
The California State Automobile Association was the bill's primary opponent, arguing it would not make roads safer.
"We don't believe this would have any impact on safety, and would result in artificially low speed limits on streets," said Steve Finnegan, a spokesman for the group.