SCHOOL TRAFFIC PROBLEM VIDEOTAPED; CITATIONS MAILED TO VIOLATORS AT VALLEY VIEW.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

After receiving numerous calls about traffic congestion at Valley View Middle School, Simi Valley police Sgt. Jeff Malgren decided he had to see it to believe it.

During a 30-minute stakeout the morning of Nov. 6 - which he videotaped - Malgren saw enough to write 39 parking citations.

``It's a two-lane street, and it's not wide enough to permit vehicles to stop,'' he said. ``So I sat there on Walnut Street in a distinctly marked police car, videotaping. I watched everything that happened.''

What Malgren observed was motorists ignoring the no-stopping signs posted for about 200 yards on the south side of Walnut Street, which skirts the northern end of the school campus.

So after noting their license plate numbers - he didn't want to slow traffic even more by pulling over motorists - Malgren saw to it that the violators got $35 citations in the mail.

Parents like Kitty Meck were unhappy about the tickets, and plan to contest the citation.

``I won't pay without a fight,'' she said.

Meck said parents drop off children on Walnut Street because the school's entrance on Tapo Street is often too crowded to enter. Also, two gates in the campus fence along Walnut Street give children easy access to the school.

Meck attended Monday's City Council meeting to request that traffic signs be changed near the school to allow stopping during certain school hours.

``I don't think that's too much to ask,'' she said. ``If every parent goes to the parking lot like the school wants us to, the kids wouldn't get to class until 10 o'clock.''

Principal Janet Britz disagrees.

``It's really not bad at all in the morning,'' she said of the front entrance. ``Certainly it's not a parking lot you can zoom through. But we have a campus supervisor who guides traffic.''

However, Britz and Malgren agree that changes are needed to unsnarl traffic congestion in the general school area. And the videotape Malgren recorded Nov. 6 was a way of documenting the frustrations that have plagued residents, motorists and school officials for at least two years.

``You really have to go out there and walk the site,'' he said. ``The videotape was mainly for my benefit to show other people what the volume of traffic was.''

Alternatives include closing the gates on the northern edge of campus. This would force motorists to use the front entrance, he said.

``The biggest drop-off point has been near the west gate,'' he said, adding that on Nov. 6 he saw 213 vehicles pass eastbound, while 111 were traveling westbound. ``That's quite a bit of cars.''

Also, some motorists make U-turns on Walnut after dropping off children so they can avoid the traffic jam at the intersection of Walnut and Tapo streets. To stop that practice, which adds to traffic problems, Britz said the city will install a median on Walnut Street sometime in January.

``It's a real safety problem. Cars are making U-turns on Walnut while kids are crossing the street,'' she said.

But Malgren said using alternative routes might be the easiest way to avoid traffic congestion. Motorists can get to Tapo Street north of Walnut Street by taking Rachael Avenue to Roxbury Street. Or motorists could travel on Township Avenue and drop off the children south of the school, he suggested.