I hope you’re having a great Labor Day weekend. I’m writing in response to your post yesterday. The story entirely misrepresents the basic facts of the Lincoln Blvd. Enhancement Project. We feel this warrants an immediate correction to prevent the spread of misinformation that could have easily been verified by a request to our office or a fact check of the authors’ claims.
The story makes the odd statement that: “The ‘widening’ will accommodate the addition of dedicated bus and bike lanes and will in fact have a net effect of lowering the bridge’s overall vehicle capacity; in other words, it will slow traffic for motorists.”
That simply could not be further from the truth.
The Lincoln Bridge Enhancement itself would remove the existing bottleneck on Lincoln between Fiji Way and Jefferson Blvd. in the Southbound direction where Lincoln Blvd. narrows from three lanes to two just south of Fiji, then opens back to four lanes south of the bridge. The proposed project does not reduce vehicle lanes— just the opposite. It would add an additional lane on Southbound Lincoln Blvd. Additionally, it would create sidewalks where none exist today and would add space for bike lanes—all while expanding this section of southbound Lincoln Blvd. for cars.
The project is part of the Westside Mobility Plan, launched by Councilmember Bill Rosendahl. It is aimed at reducing congestion and enhancing safety along Lincoln Boulevard and on other Westside corridors. There is currently no funding or timeline for project construction. The City is in the very early environmental and design stage, which is an open and public process. Public hearings—required per CEQA and demanded by Councilmember Bonin’s office—will occur in the future. Dates have not been set; we are very early in this proposal. Our office will keep residents informed of any and all hearings and opportunities to weigh in on this plan.
We’re not sure how the authors came up with such glaringly inaccurate information, but we hope that Palisades News can stop this flow of misinformation. We respectfully ask for a correction in both the current online version of the Palisades News, as well as in the next print edition.
Jamarah Hayner
Interim Communications Deputy
Office of Councilmember Mike Bonin
Joshua Preven Responds
My brother and I stand by our piece 100%.
At this point it’s been three weeks, and still no answer from Councilmember Bonin, who we know from an email was aware of Mr. Graham-Caso’s abrupt retreat from the dialogue.
Perhaps the reason Mr. Bonin won’t respond is that he knows the document posted by Mr. Graham-Caso is a long defunct 2010 drawing with no meaningful connection to the project as it stands.
At least $1.5 million has been spent over the past five years on designs for the Lincoln Boulevard Bridge project. An elaborate feasibility study was completed in 2014 by Fehr & Peers. Where are the real plans for the bridge? Why is Councilmember Bonin posting old news?
Joshua Preven
(Editor’s note: Bonin’s Communication Director David Graham-Caso also responded to the News’ Facebook page: The exchange is below and the entire Facebook post and thread can be found here.)
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