Corona del Mar Today: Pedestrian button removed from Margeurite Avenue

November 12, 2011|By Amy Senk

A city crewman removes a post with a pedestrian walk button… (Amy Senk, Daily…)

City crews have removed a post with a pedestrian walk button from the Marguerite Avenue median.

The Corona del Mar Business Improvement District board had sought the post's removal after completing an 11-month project to replace the signposts that hold community-event banners. The pole with the pedestrian button was right in the middle of the posts, visually slicing the banners.

Pedestrian walk buttons in medians are an out-of-date custom, city officials said, and the Marguerite median button was part of an old California Department of Transportation plan.

The city now operates the stretch of East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar, and traffic engineers no longer utilize mid-crosswalk buttons, said city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan.

"I don't think Caltrans even puts those median posts in anymore," Finnigan wrote in an email. "We've been gradually taking out the old posts and buttons from the medians since they really aren't needed."

The button's removal was on the Public Works Department's list of traffic signal rehab projects, and when the B.I.D. board requested the removal, officials realized it would take minimal time to remove it immediately, she said.

Pedestrian buttons remain on either side of the street.

"The intersection crossing times were just increased by state standard, so it will be unlikely that anyone could not get across in the time allotted," Public Works Director Steve Badum said in an email.

Pedestrians who are in the median to watch parades, or to decorate the dolphins, should use caution and wait for the button to be pushed by someone at the corners or should be "very careful," Badum said.

"I don't think that we want to encourage people to occupy the median area," he said. "If it happens now and then for special events or to trim the dolphins, then we'd hope people would use caution and wait for the ped button to be pushed by someone at the corners or to be very careful. As to landscaping activities, they would continue as they typically do throughout the city, workers wait for it to be safe to cross."

*Harbor View families to get letter from NBPD

Harbor View Elementary School students soon will be bringing home a letter from the Newport Beach Police Department, reminding parents of basic safety rules for dropping off and picking up children, parent volunteers said at a recent Parent Faculty Organization meeting.

"Parking lot pickup can bring out the worst in people," Principal Charlene Metoyer said.

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