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Ordinance No 2180 Page 6 of 8 ATTACHMENT A FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS The City Council finds and declares as follows: A. The City's Police Department has seen an increase in the number of calls for persons loitering or lingering at or in intersections in the last several years. Calls for service are generated by the public who are encountering pedestrians who are loitering in the center medians and corner islands (known as "pork chop islands") of intersections. The intersections that are most commonly used by those who are loitering are major intersections, close to the freeway, where the volume of vehicle traffic is high and speeds are fast. When people loiter on medians and corner islands they create a distraction for the motorists. B. It is not uncommon for the loiterers to hold or wave signs to draw the attention of the drivers. Some of those who loiter have personal belongings or other items, even animals with them on the small center medians, often leaving trash or other debris behind creating added distraction to the motorist and reducing the safety of the roadway. Adding to the distraction is the loiterers unexpected behavior, often walking across the traffic lanes where there is no crosswalk or crossing against the traffic signal indication. This is a common practice when the pedestrians are taking handouts from drivers. Walking into the traffic lanes places the pedestrian and the surrounding motorists in danger by interrupting traffic flow and increasing traffic congestion. C. Medians are usually paved or planted raised areas located in a roadway that divides the roadway according to the direction of travel. Corner islands separate right turn movements from through movements. D. Medians and corner islands are constructed to provide improved safety by creating a physical separation between travel lanes and separating traffic streams to provide improved traffic flow. These often contain traffic signal equipment including traffic signal poles, pedestrian push buttons, signs and intersection lighting systems. More recent design practices have eliminated the installation of signal and lighting equipment from the median and corner islands due to the frequent "knock down" damage that occurs from motorists crashing into them. E. From a pedestrian standpoint, medians and corner islands may be used as temporary refuge areas to wait prior to crossing multiple travel lanes. This improves traffic safety by allowing the pedestrian to find a gap and cross an intersection one direction at a time. These refuge areas provide improved safety for pedestrians that are unable to cross the entire roadway. However, occupancy in these refuge areas by pedestrians is intended only for a short term while waiting to cross the street. In the past, intersections were designed with the anticipation that pedestrians would be unable to cross the entire roadway in a single walk indication, but current practice requires sufficient signal timing be programmed to allow pedestrians to completely cross an intersection in a single cycle to prevent stranding the pedestrian in the median or corner island. While these refuge areas can be a large enough size to accommodate pedestrians, they are not designed to accommodate people who remain stationary over long periods of time, as their exposure to vehicle traffic is prolonged and the level of safety is reduced. F. The California Department of Transportation ("CalTrans") Highway Design Manual identifies a minimum median size of 6 feet wide for medians that are used by pedestrians for