CHATSWORTH : Neighbors Divided Over Street Signs

Neighbors along a quiet Chatsworth street are at odds over six signs posted in October to deter commuters from taking shortcuts through residential areas.

The trouble is, said Rodene Harpster, who lives south of Plummer Street, the six no-turn signs also serve to keep neighbors from going to and from their own homes.

“C’mon, spare me. It’s stupid,” Harpster said. She and other neighbors have started circulating a petition to get the signs taken down.

But on the other side of Plummer Street, resident David Finner said the signs, in theory anyway, keep unwanted traffic out.

“It’s probably a good idea, although they ignore the signs anyway,” said Finner.

The battle lines are drawn between those on the south side of Plummer, who want to go east and north, and those on the north side, who like the fact that people can no longer drive through their neighborhood at will.

Three of the signs, which say “no left turn between 6 a.m.-9 a.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m.”, are posted in eastbound lanes on Plummer Street at Baden, Shoup and Farralone avenues. The other three, which forbid right-hand turns during the same times, are posted along southbound lanes of Baden, Shoup and Farralone.

The signs were put up in October after north-side residents submitted a petition to City Councilman Hal Bernson. The idea is to force commuters coming east on Plummer to go all the way to Topanga Canyon Boulevard before turning right toward the Simi Valley Freeway and to force them to take the same path in reverse on the way home, Bernson said.

“It’s to make them stay on the major highways where they belong,” Bernson said.

But residents of the Lake Manor area of Chatsworth, such as Joan Kleinschmidt, who lives to the west of the signs, point the finger of blame further west, toward commuters from Calabasas, and said she and her neighbors shouldn’t be forced to go out of their way.

Bernson said the signs will soon be reviewed, but added that he doubts they will be taken down.