‘Monlaco Speedway’ Concerns Residents

Residents of the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood don’t have to scuddle down to Ocean Boulevard to get a glimpse of the Long Beach Grand Prix, though the community may not cheer on their local speedsters with the same vigor.

A resident of the 5300 block of Monlaco Road, Arthur Stillwell, has vocalized how frustrating cars speeding through the neighborhood has been and fears the worst might happen if something isn’t done to corral the speeding motorists.

“We have a lot of kids at [Wardlow] park playing softball, soccer and all that stuff,” said Stillwell. “If their ball goes out into the street and they go and get it, I can see some driver flying along not looking or looking down and hitting a kid.”

Stillwell feels the response from the Long Beach Police Department’s East Division has been insufficient to meet the needs of the neighborhood’s residents in terms of public safety.

“Everyone around here feels that the cops don’t care,” said Stillwell.

A community aid from LBPD’s East Division was able to confirm that five calls were made by Stillwell in the month of October regarding speeding cars in the area.

“I drafted and forwarded a request for traffic enforcement to the traffic section of our department’s field support division to add to their cue of city-wide locations,” said the aid. “The request will also be forwarded to our divisional sergeants.”

Stillwell has even less confidence in the City Council.

“Our City Council person Ms. [Stacy] Mungo is going to be going for a higher office and she’s just filling a spot,” said Stillwell.

The Beachcomber was able to get in contact with a representative from Mungo’s office.

“Our office has not received any contact from Mr. Stillwell regarding speeding on Monlaco Road,” said the representative. “That is not to say he hasn’t contacted anybody else.”

Mungo’s office also mentioned the implementation of Safe Streets Long Beach Action Plan that was adopted by the City Council in July. The plan that is coupled with Los Angeles County’s Vision Zero plan that looks to make the streets of Los Angeles County safer for pedestrians and cyclists, Safe Streets LB hopes to eliminate traffic related injuries and deaths by 2026.

Though the residents of Monlaco feel that speeding is an issue, they understand that safeguards like speedhumps aren’t viable due to Monlaco being used as a throughway for Long Beach Fire Department No. 19. Even then, Stillwell feels that wouldn’t be much of a deterrent.

“I’ve been talking to people on Conant [Street] and they’re having the same problem,” said Stillwell. “Even with speedbumps they have problems with people speeding.”

Both the office of Councilwoman Mungo and the LBPD East Division are aware of the community’s concerns and urge residents in their area to reach out with concerns via email, district5@longbeach.gov and lbpdeast@longbeach.gov

eric@beachcomber.news