A pedestrian bridge connecting Park Estates to Atherton Street will soon require a code to cross into the neighborhood after the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve restricting access to the neighborhood in response to reports of persistent crime.
The bridge, which is maintained by Los Angeles County, allows pedestrian access to the neighborhood from the north where Elmfield Avenue intersects with Atherton and it has been the focus of repeated complaints from residents in recent years.
They contend that the bridge provides quick access to non-residents to steal from homes and then quickly cross back over the bridge to a waiting car or to disappear into the neighborhood across Atherton. After Tuesday’s vote, anyone crossing the bridge will need a code to access the Park Estates.
While no installation date of the gate was set Tuesday night, Councilwoman Suzie Price, the representative of the area and author of the item, said that the code would be provided to anyone that requests it. Price said there would be signs posted at the gate with directions on how to access the code during a pilot program.
“Will it be perfect? Probably not,” Price said. “It’s the first time that we’ve done something like this, so this is an opportunity for us to experiment and see what works and doesn’t and that’s what the six-month period will be about. It’s an attempt to try and compromise.”
Price’s agenda item called for a six-month review period of the impact of the gate with possible consideration of closing off access to the bridge permanently after the data is collected and analyzed.
A large group of residents showed up to Tuesday’s meeting to voice support for blocking access to the neighborhood, with many of them claiming to have been victims of crimes in recent years.
Zuri Murrell, with his two young daughters standing behind him, told the council of having to disarm a man who was trying to break into his neighbor’s house, where a young girl was home alone.
“This is really an issue because my daughters—I love to have them walk around the block; my youngest started a dog-walking business, and I can’t have her do that anymore,” Murrell said. “My other one babysits kids throughout the neighborhood and I can’t have her do that anymore because they don’t feel safe.”
Other residents shared stories of packages being stolen and cars or homes being broken into.
The neighborhood has one other pedestrian walkway which links to Bellflower Boulevard on the east but that walkway was not referenced as an issue, likely because that street is much busier than Atherton and has limited parking. Closing off or restricting access to the Atherton bridge was nearly unanimously supported by those in attendance.
Ameelia Ghareeb, a resident of an apartment complex inside Park Estates, said she uses the bridge to walk her dogs and other older residents use it for exercise and safe access to church and restaurants.
“That is our residents only access to safe, walkable, areas,” Ghareeb said. “We don’t have crosswalks across Atherton. All we have is traffic and e-scooters. I don’t have a million dollar home, I am a public school teacher, but I have that bridge. And I have a safe place to walk and so our residents. I strongly urge you to please keep it open.”
Costs of the installation of the gate and key pad were not immediately disclosed by the council. An hard installation date of the gate was also not disclosed, but Price loosely set a 30-45 day window in which it could be completed.