Letter to the Editor: Levante Street is a Dangerous Road the City Ignores

My husband and I bought our first home here in the beautiful city of Carlsbad on Levante street. We were new to the neighborhood and at the time we were not aware of the pass through traffic and the ever resilient speeders. After just 2 months of living in our home (December 2009) we contacted the city's traffic department with our concerns. I knew I must not be the only one with concerns and now after 3 years of fighting for a "neighborhood" street, I see I am not. I have been in contact with Jim Murray the  lead traffic engineer who has, over 3 years, listened to me monthly show my concerns about the street. I have watched the lengthy process that this project has gone through and can still not wrap my head around how something that has been begged for from their own Carlsbad residents could take over 10 years to complete.

We now have a 8-month-old son that when I bought this house I imagined him playing out in the front yard. I now realize that what is marked as 25 mile per hour street is most definitely not.

I am constantly calling the local police to help enforce all the speeding vehicles that treat Levante as their thoroughfare to get from point A to point B. I have a sign that I have had up in front of our house for over a year. It reads, " We live here, please drive slow." Whether or not this does any help I do not know but it is the only thing we as residents can do since the city is not willing to make the changes that need to be made. 

Levante is a residential street that has people and children walking, riding their bikes and walking their dogs daily. It is a HOME to people that want to be able to walk out their front door without somebody speeding by. It should and can be a street that people feel safe on and cars are not flipping over in front of your house at midnight due to speeding, which occurred late last year. My husband and I are having to fight for simple new measures (stop signs) that will keep our community livable and safe. It is unfortunate that this has been pushed aside and I'm continually told that, "There just isn't room in this month's city council meeting." 

Thank you
Kim Wolf