It’s a tale of two cities — and nobody has time for one of them.
Stretches of road on the border of Los Angeles and glitzy Beverly Hills illustrate the stark contrast between the bordering communities — with pockmarked pavement on the LA side and a smooth surface on the other.
Viral video taken by bicycle advocate Michael Schneider showed a jarring line slicing Gregory Way down the middle, spotlighting the dramatic differences between wealthy Beverly Hills and its dysfunctional neighbor.
The split is also evident along a shared stretch of Whitworth Drive, where locals complain of stop signs standing on one side and nonexistent on the other.
A rep for Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, whose district covers the rundown LA side of the blocks, said the office is “equally as outraged as a lot of our constituents” and “constantly find[ing] ourselves beating our heads up against the city democracy or the city bureaucracy.”
“The work that we do every day is to try and sort of unstick that and unclog it, and it’s just never-ending,” said Yaroslavsky’s communications director, Leo Daube.
“You try and solve a problem over here and then you figure out there’s about 10,000 other problems I have to fix before I can fix this problem.”
One neighbor said the stop-sign discrepancy poses a danger to pedestrians and drivers, with children’s school pickup happening daily along Whitworth Drive.
“At least once a month, if not more frequently, you will hear a loud crash because there needs to be new stop signs added or additional stop signs added,” said Beverly Hills resident Merrick Fisher.
“But because it’s an issue conflicting between Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, they can’t agree on it.”
A rep from the Beverly Hills seemed to confirm the disconnect.
“I don’t have any working knowledge of any agreement between the two organizations,” said Anthony R. Garza, customer relations coordinator of public works for the city of Beverly Hills.
The differences don’t only extend to the roadways, but to everything from the street signs to the trees on either side.
“The roads have been horrible for 20 years in LA, whereas Beverly Hills is a small town that fixes any issues within 24 hours,” said Jeff, a resident of Beverly Hills who declined to provide his last name, noting that he fears accidents or car damage when he drives out of the enclave.
“I know I’m safe when I’m in Beverly Hills — that’s the difference.”