Sepulveda Boulevard

Cleaning up the city has become an issue where more and more merchants are taking the middle of the road. Tired of relying on the fiscally crunched city, local businesses are taking it upon themselves to target street medians for cleanup efforts as a way to enhance the community's appearance. "That's the trend that's going on," said Flip Smith, president of the Sepulveda Boulevard Business Watch.

Your Dec. 19 editorial "This Motel Crackdown Just Doesn't Check Out" unfairly criticizes Councilman Marvin Braude for requesting an investigation of 11 motels in his council district. He is justifiably responding to constituent complaints about prostitution activity along Sepulveda Boulevard where those motels are located. As a person who lives within two blocks of Sepulveda Boulevard, and works and shops in the neighborhood, I know that prostitute sightings are commonplace along the boulevard.

A councilman's office is calling it the city's biggest effort to close businesses that fail to clean up prostitution, with nearly a dozen motels along notorious Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys targeted for investigation by city zoning officials. But the Van Nuys police sergeant responsible for community-based policing in the area says the prostitution problem has been exaggerated.

I commute from Reseda to Beverly Hills five days a week. Between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. I am on Sepulveda Boulevard. The reverse lane nine times out of 10 is not there, or they are picking the cones up. When it's there, it works. But I would rather the city, at the ridiculous sum of $267,000, give the money to charity, and I'll sit in my car. MICHAEL TROCCHIA Reseda

Decrying the loss of a recently discontinued car-pool lane for Valley commuters headed home from the Westside over the Sepulveda Pass, Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce officials are asking the city to restore the lane and make it available to all motorists. Chamber President Jeff Brain said Wednesday that he would call on Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavksy for assistance in getting the lane back. "This was really beneficial to Sherman Oaks residents," Brain said.

Ultimately, it was those little orange traffic cones that may have brought the car-pool lane on Sepulveda Boulevard to a dead end. The cones were used to create a northbound lane for about a mile on the southbound side of the street where it crosses Sepulveda Pass, giving homeward-bound car-poolers and buses an unobstructed drive from the Westside into the San Fernando Valley every weekday afternoon.

Ultimately, it was those little orange traffic cones that may have brought the car-pool lane on Sepulveda Boulevard to a dead end. The cones were used to create a northbound lane for about a mile on the southbound side of the street where it crosses Sepulveda Pass, giving homeward-bound car-poolers and buses an unobstructed drive from the Westside into the San Fernando Valley every weekday afternoon.

Having grown up on the Westside, I have an intimate acquaintance with, and love for, the area. Everyone I know is aware that Sepulveda Boulevard between Pico and Santa Monica boulevards has for many years been home to not one but numerous animal hospitals and kennels (Times, Feb. 14). As the community expanded, those businesses were welcomed, approved by law, and successful. I have known Martha Wyss, the AM & PM Dog Kennel manager, for a long time and can attest that she is a woman of great integrity, with an impressive background of experience in caring for our pets.

On the last weekend to register to vote before the Nov. 3 election, San Fernando Valley Democrats walked two major streets Saturday urging people to stop at street-corner registration booths and sign up to cast ballots.