A few San Fernando Valley news items, seen over lunch today:
- Road Diets. The road diet on Wilbur is in the news again. StreetsBlogLA (which is biased on the cyclist side) has an article bemoaning the proposal from the Northridge West Council to impose a $150 per bike license. This is yet another skirmish in the ongoing battle over Wilbur Ave, which was restriped from 4-lanes to 2-lanes+Bikes late last year. There was a roudy meeting in March at Nobel MS on the subject, and it has gotten to the point where there’s even a Facebook group on the subject. It’s a difficult subject. Road diets frustrate drivers who want faster traffic, but they do reduce fatalities (you can see the numbers for Ocean Park in Santa Monica, where the diet became a gastric bypass). Much as I would like a faster Wilbur (I drive it every day), I also appreciate a safe Wilbur for cyclists (I also ride it regularly)… and bike lanes will continue to be added.
- Organic Food. There’s a nice article on the redevelopment of Granada Village, which is adding a Sprouts Farmers Market. This is the center at the NW corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah, where there used to be a
HughesRalphs, and was one of the first major shopping centers in Granada Hills (being built in 1965 near the main GH shopping drag along Chatsworth St.). Here’s a nice map showing it in relation to other retailers. I did find it interesting that the TJ Maxx there is one of the top-performing stores. I’m actually looking forward to the Sprouts. I’ve been to the one in Culver City, and it will be nice to have some real competition for Whole Paychek. - Topanga Plaza. In this week’s history article in the Daily News, we were reminded of the beginnings of Topanga Plaza: “Ground will be broken soon for West Valley Center in Canoga Park. Formal announcement that negotiations have been completed for the long-projected shopping complexwas made by David May II, president of the owner-developer firm, West Valley Partnership. West Valley Center will contain major department store branches of May Co., The Broadway and Montgomery Ward, on the Warner Ranch site east of Topanga Canyon Blvd., between Vanowen St. and a new extension of Victory Blvd.(May 24, 1962)”. I mention this because this shopping village, now called “Westfield Topanga”, continues to grow. There’s a nice article I just discovered on the Costco that is planned for the block between the Prominade and the Plaza, supposedly “one of the nicest-looking Costcos anybody has ever seen.” However, I’m unsure what Westfield of Borg is drinking: “To be able to go to Nordstrom, and do your weekly shopping at Costco, and then go out to dinner – that’s kind of the core experience of Westfield.” I’m sorry, but when I do my weekly shopping at Costco, I’ve got so much frozen and refrigerated stuff I need to go straight home—I don’t have time (let alone any leftover money) to go out for dinner.
