CITY COUNCIL: Highland closure ok’d for a North Manhattan Beach holiday festival
by Mark McDermott The Manhattan Beach City Council last week approved a six hour closure of Highland Avenue at the request of the North Manhattan Beach Business Improvement District, which is planning to expand its annual holiday stroll in December into a festival that includes artisan booths and live music. The council overcame some initial reluctance, largely over concerns regarding the street closure, which will be from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and span Highland from 33rd Street to Rosecrans Avenue. City traffic engineer Erik Zandvliet told the council that moving the holiday stroll from its traditional Thursday night to a Sunday greatly reduces the traffic impact of the street closure. “Sunday is a very light day. It’s actually the lightest day of the week for Highland Avenue,” Zandvliet said. “So that’s why we’re not opposing a Sunday. We would oppose a Thursday [closure], because there’s 25,000 cars a day on Highland Avenue on a weekday. On this Sunday, during this time period, we’re probably talking about 5,000 cars. It’s a diversion that we would take — both directions of traffic would go down Manhattan Avenue between Rosecrans Avenue and 33rd.” The North Manhattan Beach BID…
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