Area braces for MJ burial
Streets around Forest Lawn will close for more than a day for Michael Jackson interment.
By Veronica Rocha
Published: Last Updated Sunday, August 30, 2009 10:13 PM PDT
GLENDALE — At least nine streets surrounding Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park will be closed starting at 4 a.m. Thursday for Michael Jackson’s burial, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. that day.
Glendale police will close the streets for the family’s caravan and to accommodate a large media presence, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Media agencies from Australia, Hungary, Japan, China and Belgium will be covering the funeral, he said. Last week, Glendale police announced that media attendance was at capacity.
Privacy for the Jackson family also factored into the street closures.
Forest Lawn officials secured a permit to close nearby streets for the burial to guard against prying eyes, a cost that will likely be passed on to the Jackson family, Lorenz said. Only residents, property owners and those with commercial business will be allowed into the affected neighborhood, Lorenz said.
“We want to provide safety in the community,” Lorenz said.
City officials expect the only inconvenience to residents to be traffic congestion due to the street closures.
“It will only impact traffic at the particular area where the street closures are, and our police department has been working with local business to make sure that they can stay open and get their customers or their clients in through the police barricades,” city spokeswoman Vicki Gardner said. “We are going to try to minimize the impact on the neighbors and the businesses in that area as much as possible.”
Street closures include East Cerritos Avenue; East Eulalia Street; East Laurel Street; South Glendale Avenue; Heminger Street; Colby Drive; Mission Road; Roads End Street; and Madison Way.
Streets will likely be opened after midnight Friday, Lorenz said.
To enter restricted streets, residents, business owners or customers must show identification or other proof showing they belong in the area.
Cerritos Elementary School also starts this week, which means parents and children will have go through the barricades to get to campus.
“Kids will be able to get to school,” Lorenz said.
Resident Marty Bracciotti has already seen news vans driving into his Roads End Street neighborhood, stopping and asking some of his neighbors questions about the burial. He has been trying to find out about the street closures but hasn’t heard much about the funeral and its impact to the neighborhood.
“The problem is that there is no communication to us,” Bracciotti said.
Bracciotti might walk to the city’s train station and take the train to work Thursday, he said.
“If they are going to inconvenience our neighborhood, I’d like to see a sign that goes up . . . that says ‘The street will be closed from [this time to that time],’” Bracciotti said.
Traffic and street closure plans are expected to be finalized today or Tuesday. Letters about the closures will be sent to residents this week, officials said.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/08/31/publicsafety/gnp-jackson083109.txt
