Kathryn Kosmeya-Dodge

Dear City Council Members,

It is urgent that you support all efforts to lessen traffic on Michigan Ave. I personally am suffocating daily living on the corner of Michigan and Euclid. 150,000 cars spew their noise and pollution every single day one half block from me on the freeway, every day, all day, with never a respite, never.

Then on the other side of me there is Michigan Ave, where nearly 3,000 cars pass daily and  line up for the 14th street light twenty feet from my living room. There is constant speeding.

The motorcyclists use it as 0 to 10 rev up, Ameri-Care turns its trucks on this corner twenty times a day or more. Trucks using up half a block use this street. There is constant speeding. I have seen five accidents on my corner since the five years I have lived here.

We are squashed between traffic nightmares on both sides. There is not one postage stamp piece of land where one can go a read a newspaper, see a bird, maybe hear water instead of the steady relentless drone of the freeway on one side and the equivalent of a freeway ramp on the other.

Therefore, I support not only every traffic barrier, every traffic diverter, every green plant and tree, all bicycle lanes, hedges, and every other method available to ameliorate our living situation.

We are being poisoned at a far greater rate than anywhere else in the city, we are in the most need of relief. This is a great opportunity for Santa Monica to step up to the plate to make this city more livable.

I don’t just want the above improvements, I want mini-gardens to be installed at all the dead ends abutting at the freeway wall – make a wall of recyclable water so we hear gentle water falling and not the car drone noise, a place where residents can sit and read a newspaper, play a game, read. It can be tiny. We have incredible talent here that can design mini-mini respites from the insanity that is our choking to death car culture.

It is gross discrimination against low income people to be forced to live in the most polluted areas. Our health is being damaged at a far greater rate than anywhere else, which is a documented fact.

We need air purifiers  and soundproofing installed in our homes. Automobiles and elected leaders do not have the right to poison us. It is that simple. Air purifiers in our homes, traffic diverters on our streets, trees, plants, mini-parks – we need it all, and immediately.

I urge you with every fiber of my being to make Michigan Ave livable, safe, and as pollution free as possible – immediately. Our health demands it. Common sense demands it. Vision demands it. This is a great place for Santa Monica to begin to make our city livable, beautiful , and less polluted.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Kosmeya-Dodge
Michigan Avenue resident