Artesia News

Artesia to Decide on Street Name Change

Andrew Perry

Artesia City Council will vote on changing the names of 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, and 194th Streets on May 9, it is likely that city council will vote in favor of the change. The city council has already decided on the names should council vote to go ahead with the change.
At the previous city council meeting on April 13, council opted to go with only one of an ad hoc committee’s name suggestion; Carver St. The street names will be: 191st into Cambrian Lane, 192nd as Meadow Lane, 193rd as Carver Lane, and 194th as Academy Lane.

Residents in the neighborhood have been organizing since October to organize the street name change in an effort to undermine gang affiliation, graffiti, and also to “enhance the perception of the neighborhood.” City Council decided against the rest of the ad hoc committee’s and the Beautification and Maintenance Commission’s suggestions because council did not want any names for their street. Carver St. was an exception because it is the name of the elementary school on that street.

Bea Saldana, neighborhood watch captain of the 190’s, put forth the effort in organizing the street name change campaign. Saldana said that Paul Barcelos, public safety commissioner and a resident of the 190’s neighborhood, was the first to mention the idea of changing the street names. Barcelos said that an acquaintance in the Fullerton Police Department told him that Fullerton did a street name change for the same reasons about four to five years ago.

It isn’t just about the gang, says Barcelos, “It’s so the city takes pride and allow the streets to be named rather than rely on numbers.” In other words, it’s to enhance the perception of the neighborhood.
According to Saldana, the gang called “The 190’s” is notorious enough that people in Bellflower and Paramount know who they are. Saldana recounted her experience, after city council asked she ask the people in the neighborhood, Saldana began walking door to door. “It took several weeks … the approval rate was 60 percent at that time … I realized the name change was a possibility.”

After reporting before city council, council then asked Saldana to get a petition. Saldana again set out, this time with volunteers, to get their petition signed. This time, “85 percent of property owners were for it,” said Saldana.

The city then mailed out survey cards to the residents of the neighborhood, to get a confirmation on the numbers. 148 property owners were sent survey cards, only 55 were returned; 35 yes and 18 no. However, because of the success of the petition, city council decided to let the neighborhood’s street name change committee decide on the street names, and submit them to Artesia’s Beautification and Maintenance Commission on March 30, a special meeting set aside just for the street names consideration.

In retrospect, Fullerton’s street name change occurred “approximately 4 or 5 years ago”, according to Fullerton’s public information officer, Sylvia Palmer.

In Fullerton, a small cul-de-sac extending from Baker St. was the center of gang activity in the area. The gang called themselves “The Baker Street Gang”. The name Fullerton’s city council decided to replace Baker St.’s cul-de-sac was Iris Court.

 

 

 

 

 

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