Today CALTRANS installed a formidable gate to deter the homeless from camping on the Cahuenga 101 southbound embankment.

Flimsy existing gate.

Newly installed gate.

In January 2018 CALTRANS District 7 Maintenance Engineer, Frank Perez, Senior Landscape Architect, Ed Siribohdi, Regional Engineer, Shay Baduk met at the Bella Vista cul-de-sac with WHCA board members Carl Ripaldi, Ramon Grijalva, and myself to discuss keeping foot traffic off CALTRANS land. The rake is steep, narrow, and has a dangerous drop onto speeding cars.

Finding the right barrier didn't happen over night. It required patience, trust, perseverance, ingenuity, hope, trial, and error. A lot of baby steps got us to the Boy Boy gate.

Submitting Service Requests? Maybe a thing of the past. Locals and tourists alike will come to expect a pristine SB Cahuenga offramp. One successful exit can lead to more. Let's work together to beautify our city. Make it safe. Make us proud.

Thank you CALTRANS for not abandoning Whitley Heights. We are beyond grateful.