This Week’s L.A. Transportation Committee: Vision Zero, Parking, CicLAvia

Yesterday's Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee touched on a number of items related to Los Angeles livability. Below is a brief recap of highlights. All these committee actions still need to be approved by the full city council before going into effect.

Vision Zero and Pedestrian Enforcement - Council File 15-0546

This is the second committee hearing (June coverage here) for the laudable Bonin-Huizar motion that seeks to curb LAPD's "fish-in-a-barrel" ticketing of pedestrians who violate antiquated state crosswalk laws.

Given that Mayor Eric Garcetti's recent Vision Zero directive has brought departments together to focus on reducing collision deaths, committee time for this item was dedicated to a Vision Zero presentation by L.A. Transportation Department (LADOT) General Manager Seleta Reynolds.

Reynolds' presentation was compelling, drawing from the city's extensive Vision Zero report [PDF]. City departments are engaging a consultant to do a "detail dive into crash data." The internal city Vision Zero Task Force will meet for the first time on Thursday, September 24. Also on Thursday, the city will host a public event featuring Reynolds and Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the national Vision Zero Network. Event details here.

The pedestrian enforcement aspect of the motion will be heard at a subsequent committee meeting.

Expansion of Express Park - Council File 13-0586

The committee approved extending Xerox's contract to administer the city's demand-based parking program, L.A. Express Park. Express Park will continue in downtown Los Angeles. It will also expand to Westwood (in the "next two months") and to Hollywood (in about three years.) 

Councilmember David Ryu had a handful of questions, mostly regarding revenue and outreach, regarding Express Park expansion. Ryu expressed support for diverting increased revenue "to mitigate parking congestion on side streets." LADOT staff responded that Express Park has "no revenue objectives" and in some places downtown has resulted in cheaper parking, though, overall it has resulted in slightly higher parking revenue for the city. LADOT stated that use of some parking revenue for local improvements (a la Don Shoup) is among the recommendations of the mayor's parking task force, from which final recommendations are due this fall.

Bike Racks on DASH Buses - Council File 15-0990

The committee approved an uncontroversial LADOT proposal [PDF] to spend $220,000 installing bike racks on DASH shuttle buses.

Upcoming CicLAvia Events - Council File 15-1063

The committee voted to approve a proposal extending the city's fiscal arrangements to host four city CicLAvia events during the current fiscal year:

1. Culver City - Venice already took place August 9
2. Heart of L.A. - October 18, 2015
3. San Fernando Valley - Van Nuys, Pacoima - March, 2016
4. Southeast Cities, including Watts - May 15, 2016

Councilmember Nury Martinez noted that the March, 2016, Valley CicLAvia is in need of thorough community outreach. She also encouraged attention be given to getting participants to the event, given the lack of a Metro rail connection.

One additional aspect of LADOT's proposal is to have the City Attorney determine whether a competitive Request for Proposals is needed for future events.

In other CicLAvia news, former Antonio Villaraigosa deputy mayor Romel Pascual has been named Executive Director of the CicLAvia non-profit. Former Executive Director Aaron Paley is now the organization's Executive Producer.