Loma signal back on track
By Kelly Feser Eells

While not exactly "soothing," the sound of construction is music to many a Mira Monte resident's ear these days - especially since "these days" were so long in the coming.

Indeed, many people had given up hope of ever seeing so much as a jackhammer on the corner of Loma Drive and Highway 33, much less a traffic signal.

But construction on the long-awaited signal has, as of yesterday, officially begun. "We expect it will be finished by mid-September," said Judy Gish, Caltrans Media Relations representative.

Former Mira Monte Elementary School Principal Larry Hartmann spent 15 years lobbying for improved safety at the intersection, where he regularly provided "back-up" crossing guard duty. As a direct result of his efforts, flashing yellow "crosswalk ahead" lights were installed in 1995, with a secure "promise" of full signalization by September of 2000.

Hartmann, who had retired that same year, kept his hand in the project. Increasingly frustrated, by August of 2001 he'd had enough. "Their promises," he said, "just don't seem to mean much."
Then-project manager Gary Kevorkian cited budget constraints, explaining that "previously unforeseen road and utility upgrades to the area had added some $35,000 to the project."

Caltrans spokesperson Ivy Estrada noted that, until "a budget is hammered out between the state and the county (which had agreed to pay for a third of the project), reflected the plan revisions, the project's on hold."

At a Highway 33 Improvement Committee meeting six months later, Kevorkian announced that "we, the county and the state, are in the final stages of a corporate agreement. The bid process is being finalized as we speak. Construction," he added, "could begin as early as June (2002)."

But last July, then-project manager Abdi Saghafi admitted that the project had not yet gone out to bid, and then, "Until the governor signs the budget, our hands are tied."

Saghafi was replaced by (current) project manager Mohammad Toutourchian, who, in November, confirmed that a contract had been awarded to Taft Electric and that "construction should start by the end of this year or January (2003), at the latest."

However, the project was delayed yet again in March. "The delay is only temporary," Toutourchian assured the committee and concerned members of the public. "Once Quality Control approves the contractor's corrected plans, once we know the pole is okay, we'll be able to start construction. Probably by early May."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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