Streetsblog Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, LADOT, has released it’s report on how it plans to spend the portion of the Measure R Local Return funds that were “set-aside” for bicycle and pedestrian programs.  You may remember that during debate on whether or not bicyclists and pedestrian safety projects deserved a set-aside some Council Members, notably Bernard Parks and Greig Smith, were worried that there wouldn’t be enough projects to meet the set-aside.

Image: Safe Routes California

Well, that debate can be put to rest.

The bicycle program will receive an infusion of roughly $2.675 million dollars that will go towards bicycle lanes, sharrows, bike parking and bike friendly streets throughout the city.  Every Council District will see some sort of improvement from the Measure R cash.  A portion of those funds, less than 9%, will be used for staff hours, but overall the funds are being spent on new projects that will go on the ground.  Pages 4 and 5 of the linked report contain a list of the projects.

But where things get really exciting is the pedestrian component.

In addition to improving intersections and transit stops, the city is putting aside just less than half of the pedestrian funds for Phase I of a two-year study of access to our schools for students on bike and on foot.  For those not familiar with the history of Los Angeles’ Safe Routes to School program, this might seem a disappointment.  However, the city has consistently under-performed when seeking state and federal grants from the “Safe Routes to School” programs because the city’s applications seemed to be more about politics than what schools were most in need of help.

By committing to a city-wide study, the LADOT is reversing course and embracing progressive transportation over politics.  In the past, LADOT had tried to excerpt political pressure to earn funding for applications that were less deserving than others so that Safe Route’s dollars would be spread out geographically.  This study proposes that the City use data, such as collision rates, to identify where prioritize efforts and give a strategic plan for supporting city-wide students walking and bicycling to school. Read more…

Miranda Chavez, Student Body Vice President for Langdon Elementary, speaks as some other politicians and students look on. Photo: Office of Richard Alarcon

City Councilman Richard Alarcon has always been a vocal supporter for traffic calming and safe streets around schools and other places that children congregate. In 2007, he introduced legislation calling for the LADOT to report on how it prioritizes traffic calming devices around schools, parks and recreation centers. Last year, he introduced the resolution which created the "set-aside" for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the city's Measure R Local Return funds.

We all know that the battle to slow traffic is a hard one, so yesterday must have been a good one for the Councilman. Surrounded by students from Langdon Elementary, Alarcon celebrated the installation of speed humps and curb cuts around eight schools in the 7th Councilmanic District, paid for with Safe Routes to Schools funds. At Langdon Elementary School, where the press conference was held, there have been 28 collisions on that block between 2003-2008, including 2 pedestrian related and 4 bicycle related accidents, as reported by LADOT.

"It is always fantastic to hear of leaders and communities addressing and prioritizing the needs of children and their families to safely and enjoyably access their schools," says Jessica Meaney, California Policy Manager for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

Streetsblog had been highly critical of the city's grant writing efforts when it comes to "Safe Routes to Schools," the projects and proposals coming out of Alarcon's district have always been superior to the fare offered by LADOT for the rest of the city. That the LADOT complains about the city not receiving its "fare share" of SRTS funding while eight schools in one district have traffic calming installed with SRTS funds over the course of one week tells the story. If anyone is interested in seeing these kinds of projects for their local schools, there is a Safe Routes to School's training session at the Caltrans building Downtown at 9:00 A.M. If you're interested, email Caltrans' local SRTS Direcyor at dale_benson@dot.ca.gov. The meeting occurs in advance of a July 15 deadline to apply for $24 million in California SRTS grants.

Read more...

After 14 months of drama, deal-making, and declarations of its demise, the health care legislation envisioned by President Obama and congressional Democrats finally cleared its biggest hurdle last night, with the House approving the Senate-passed measure on a 219-212 vote.

Safe Routes to School programs, such as this one, could see a boost from the health bill’s grant program. (Photo: CA DOT)

The process isn’t quite finished yet — the Senate still must take up a series of tweaks to its original bill under the filibuster-proof reconciliation framework for debate — but the meat of the upper chamber’s health proposal is set to become law by week’s end.

Once that occurs, a new pool of federal “Community Transformation” grants would be established, with local governments and nonprofit groups eligible for a share of the funding. As Streetsblog Capitol Hill noted back in November, the grants would go towards projects that support public health, including “activities to prevent chronic diseases” and “the infrastructure to support active living.”

In practice, that could result in new funding available for bike-ped improvements or programs that encourage safe transportation for young students, such as Safe Routes to School.

The Senate bill also recognizes transportation’s role in public health by giving the U.S. DOT a seat on a new National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council that would coordinate federal wellness policy.

First Lady Michelle Obama took to the mikes this afternoon to kick
off a national campaign to combat childhood obesity, emphasizing new
initiatives to promote biking and walking alongside a strong focus on
healthier food options in schools.

The first lady visited "Sesame Street" last fall as part of her push to fight childhood obesity. (Photo: NYDN)

Mrs.
Obama appeared with six Cabinet members, the Surgeon General, and
several lawmakers and mayors to mark the president’s official creation
of a new Task Force on Childhood Obesity. As part of the first lady’s
new effort, the White House plans to expand the President’s Council on
Physical Fitness and Sports, while setting up a Safe and Healthy
Schools Fund during hte next reauthorization of federal elementary
education law.

In her remarks to the press this afternoon,
Mrs. Obama paid particular attention to the lifestyle shifts that have
led many kids to a more sedentary routine — and helped contribute to
obesity rates of 17 percent for children and teens, according to the
Journal of the American Medical Association. (The same study found that one of every three U.S. kids are oversight.)

The first lady said:

In my home, we weren’t rich. The foods we ate weren’t fancy. But
there was always a vegetable on the plate. And we managed to lead a
pretty healthy life.

Many kids today aren’t so fortunate. Urban sprawl and fears about safety often mean the only walking they do
is out their front door to a bus or a car. Cuts in recess and gym mean
a lot less running around during the school day, and lunchtime may mean
a school lunch heavy on calories and fat. For many kids, those
afternoons spent riding bikes and playing ball until dusk have been
replaced by afternoons inside with TV, the Internet, and video games.

Mrs. Obama highlighted the presidential budget proposal for
$400 million in financing to develop supermarkets and farmers’ markets
in neighborhoods that currently lack a walkable healthy food option,
but she did not directly mention Safe Routes to School, the federal program that helps carve out local routes for children to bike and walk from home to class every day.

This morning a job announcement appeared in my Inbox from the non-profit that works on Safe Routes to Schools Issues across the country.  Given the somewhat deplorable state of our city’s efforts to apply for Safe Routes grants, this position could be a game changer for those working to make travel to Los Angeles’ schools safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.  A copy of the announcement is below, and a link to the full application can be found at the end of the article:

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is hiring a full-time  California policy manager who will be based in the Los Angeles area.  The  policy manager will influence transportation funding allocations and policies at the state-level and in the six-county region governed by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to benefit walking and bicycling for children and families, especially lower-income communities most vulnerable to childhood obesity. The California policy manager will work 20 hours/week on statewide issues and 20 hours/week on activities in Southern California, reporting to Deb Hubsmith, director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, who also serves as Chair of the California State Network. The full job description along with instructions on how to apply can be found here: http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/about/4058/326116

Overhead shot of Palms Elementary School. Note the five lane streets and lack of crosswalks. Photo via Vaughn's One Pager

A story in yesterday's New York Times took a look at the safety conditions surrounding Los Angeles' public schools and painted a horrific picture of a traffic nightmare.  Focusing on the condition's surrounding Florence Nightengale Middle School, the NY Times found that narrow sidewalks and a glut of parents racing to pick up their children create a dangerous, chaotic mess for children.  Sadly, the problem isn't limited to just to one school:

Traffic patterns around schools in Los Angeles have become clogged and often dangerous because of a large growth in student enrollment and an increase in the number of parents who ferry their children to and from school out of fear for their safety, Mr. Hopwood said. Especially in high-crime areas, parents are reluctant to let their children walk.

“It’s getting worse and worse each year,” said Brad Smith, an environmental health and safety officer at the school district, “because so many parents feel that they need to drop their kids at the front entrance of the school because they are concerned about harm.”

The Times' story doesn't just detail the problems, but does give credit to the Los Angeles' City Attorney's office for creating a program that would turn parents into mini-traffic cops.  After a group of parents tried the vigilante approach to traffic policing, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo created a program where police "professionalize" new traffic safety volunteers to and provide them with cones and vests to help them control traffic.

And does the traffic ever need to be controlled!  The Times talks to bus drivers, school officials, and parents all of whom complain about the glut of cars on the street; yet the article doesn't go into what can be done to solve the congestion issues.  The words "Department of Transportation" or "LADOT" don't appear in the article, and given the department's mediocre track record in securing state Safe Routes to Schools grants, it may not be the worst thing in the world that they aren't quoted.  Also absent was any discussion of what, if any, impact the decision to cut back on school buses to save budget dollars has had on the dangerous traffic disaster surrounding our public schools.

Incidently, I can't help but notice that when you click on the story, the article appears from the "Los Angeles Journal" and at the bottom of the article there is an advertisement that refers to the NY Times as "L.A.'s top source for daily news."  Are our own daily papers about to find themselves a new competitor in the market?