Magnolia and Willow has lost thousands as the process of installing safety measures in front of her shop is stalled.
The owner of Magnolia and Willow antique shop has found herself at a crossroads, and a particularly dangerous one at that.
The front portion of Emily Yep’s store has been completely boarded up since a car screeched into her building on the Fourth of July, ruining over $10,000 worth of merchandise and forcing her to close down a section of the antique shop.
On Sept. 2, another car crashed into the building, this time taking down a shelf and bending the metal front doors beyond repair. Large wood panels face the street now, with a skeleton holding up a “Please slow down” sign.
It’s an accident Yep saw coming, as she’s been asking the City since 2017 to install safety measures at the intersection in front of her shop.
“They basically told me they didn’t feel like I needed anything to protect the sidewalk or the interior from any accidents … and that they were going to do a traffic study,” Yep said.
As part of Long Beach’s Safe Streets plan published in 2020, the City studied intersections for levels of danger. The intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Willow Street ranked as a “high injury corridor” for both Pedestrians and Bicyclists as well as Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles.
These rankings were calculated by the number of deaths or serious injuries due to vehicle collisions.
Click here to see the top five most dangerous intersections in Long Beach, according to data from 2013 to 2017 in the Long Beach Safe Streets Plan
- Anaheim Street and Atlantic Avenue
- Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue
- Ximeno Avenue and Seventh Street
- Pacific Coast Highway and Second Street
- Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue
Yep finally received a response from the City on Sept. 6, when Mayor Rex Richardson and staff from Councilmember Robert Uranga’s office visited her shop to talk about possible solutions.
The small business owner said she was told during the Sept. 6 meeting that “temporary barriers” would be installed “soon,” and was assured a more permanent solution would be implemented down the line. Yep is still waiting to hear back about the temporary measures, and is being told to “keep checking back in” when she calls the mayor’s office.
The Signal Tribune called and emailed the mayor’s office on Sept. 19 and 20 asking for an update on the temporary and permanent solutions for the store, but was directed back to Public Works.
Long Beach Traffic Engineer Paul Van Dyke told the Signal Tribune that plans for the Magnolia Avenue and Willow Street intersection are focused on slowing down traffic rather than installing barriers, and the City hopes to lower the speed limit to 20 or 25 mph on the corridor.
“The plan is to add those bulb-out designs, to add other vertical elements at the corner without necessarily introducing a bollard right there,” Van Dyke said. “The traffic signals and streetlight poles that we install are specifically designed to give way in the event of a crash so that folks aren’t coming to an abrupt immediate stop. So introducing a bollard in that same environment would be kind of contrary to our design philosophy here.”
No temporary barriers have been installed as of Sept. 28.
Joy Contreras, public information officer for Long Beach Public Works told the Signal Tribune that “any modification in the public right-of-way must be approved by the City” via permit.
She added that permanent bollards “should only be implemented” to protect sensitive utilities such as gas meters, and can be installed by the City only. Contreras said “bulbed-out curbs or improvements which redirect errant vehicles rather than bringing them to a stop” are more typical solutions for intersections like Magnolia Avenue and Willow Street.
The Signal Tribune asked the Long Beach Police Department how many car accidents have occurred in recent years on the intersection of Willow Street and Magnolia Avenue and was directed to request the public records for such incidents. The request was made on Sept. 20, then again on Sept. 26; no reply has been received as of Sept. 28.
Through the California Public Records Act, public agencies have 10 days to respond to requests either with the information or detailed information as to why it’s protected by law.
“The plan is to add those bulb-out designs, to add other vertical elements at the corner without necessarily introducing a bollard right there.”
Paul Van Dyke, Long Beach traffic engineer
Contreras said the City added extra seconds to the yellow lights on Willow Street in 2017, diagonal crosswalks after that, and lowered the speed limit from 35 mph to 30 mph in August.
Yep said the city installed an electronic speed limit sign outside of her store on Sept. 18. City staff accidentally installed a 35 mph sign on Sept. 18—higher than the street’s limit—then lowered it to 30 mph after Yep sent them a picture.
Contreras told the Signal Tribune that the City is in the final design phase to add a protected left turning lane to Willow Street, and expects construction to begin in early 2024.
The Willow Street corridor is on the “priority list” in the Safe Streets Long Beach plan, and is one of eight intersections the City plans to improve for pedestrian safety as part of its Vision Zero Plan to reduce traffic-related deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2026.
The plan involves expanding sidewalks, improving pedestrian crossings, modernizing traffic signals and installing bulb-out curbs, and is estimated to cost $1 million for the eight intersections.
Long Beach applied for federal funding for the Vision Zero Plan but hasn’t received it yet.
Yep told the Signal Tribune she still has not received any insurance money for the Fourth of July crash, as the legal parties are “going back and forth with the settlement.”
Since much of her time on the job is spent searching for, cleaning and pricing vintage and antique items, it’s difficult for an insurance company to accurately price the value of the items lost in the crashes, Yep said. She’s still waiting for a price on the items lost in the Sept. 2 crash.
Magnolia & Willow has started a GoFundme to help with the cost of repairs, which are estimated to be in the thousands. Yep said the property owner, insurance company and City are in charge of calculating the cost of repairs to the building, and she hasn’t received an estimate yet.
The store remains open for business in-person, online and through social media. Magnolia and Willow is located at 490 W. Willow St. and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
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Long Beach doesn’t enforce the speed limit on any of the streets. I see 50mph plus on Pacific, 7th St, Atlantic, Anaheim and PCH. Never seen a vehicle get stopped. I see people running red lights in front of the police and nothing done.