NEWPORT BEACH : Crossing in Newport Center Called Unsafe

When Jay Richard Eisenberg was struck and killed by a van as he ran across a street at Fashion Island last July 29, dozens of people who saw the accident from their office building windows decided that it was time to take action.

Linda Black saw the 33-year-old attorney lying in the street, and the picture was etched into her memory forever.

That day, she wrote a letter to the mayor. In it, she said: “We strongly urge the city of Newport Beach to take permanent action to make the crosswalks on Newport Center Drive safer for pedestrian traffic.” It was signed by 64 of her co-workers at the prestigious O’Melveny & Myers law firm.

“The cars on the that street swerve to avoid slowing down. Nobody stops. It’s just a very dangerous raceway out there,” said Black, a longtime Newport Beach resident. “We knew someone would get hit, and, unfortunately, someone did.”

Eisenberg was killed on Newport Center Drive, midway between Santa Rosa Drive and Santa Cruz Road--the same place where dozens of people who work in Fashion Island cross during lunch hour. The posted speed limit is 40 miles per hour.

“Cars have come within inches of my kneecaps when I cross there,” said Todd R. Wulffson, 27, an attorney at O’Melveny & Myers. “The minimum I think the city should do is put in a stop sign--(but) preferably a light signal because an accident is certainly inevitable.”

The city’s Traffic Affairs Committee is reviewing whether a traffic signal could be installed at the “intersection.”

“Technically it’s not an intersection,” city traffic engineer Richard Edmonston said. “It’s a driveway known as Center Drive that looks like an intersection, and it’s owned by the Irvine Co.”