Police and Fire Departments Shut Down Volunteer Crosswalk Painting Event in Westwood

Yesterday, LAPD shut down a volunteer work party painting new crosswalks in Westwood. The crosswalk install was organized by Jonathan Hale, under the banner of People’s Vision Zero which is building on the work of do-it-yourself street safety installs pioneered by the L.A. Crosswalks Collective. Hale was one of the people behind guerilla crosswalks shaming the city into adding actual official crosswalks at West L.A.’s Stoner Park.

Yesterday’s community crosswalk install was located at the intersection of Kelton Avenue and Wilkins Avenue, near the Westwood V.A

Streetsblog interviewed Hale yesterday, who termed yesterday’s incident “a bummer.”

“It’s sad that it comes to this,” he said.

Hale related that volunteers had completed two of four crosswalks there and were starting the third when two LAPD cars and one LAFD ambulance arrived. Police arrived due to reports of vandalism and seemed somewhat confused when they found volunteers openly painting missing crosswalks.

As the organizer of the event, Hale came forward to speak with the LAPD and explained what was going on. Officers then cuffed Hale, patted him down, and threatened to “arrest everybody.”

Hale stated that he was cuffed for 15-30 minutes. LAPD cited Hale for misdemeanor “vandalism on city property,” a charge that he says typically means a $250 fine. No other volunteers were ticketed.

Hale says that the PD made the volunteers unblock the closed street, at which point people drove over wet paint, spreading it beyond the intersection. “It looks like crap” complained Hale.

For additional details, see Hale’s post at Reddit, and watch PeoplesVisionZero Instagram reel recapping yesterday’s LAPD action.