LAPD Shuts Down Volunteers Repainting Nadir Gavarrete Memorial at Koreatown Intersection

Streetsblog received a tip from a Crosswalks Collective L.A. source that the LAPD (again) shut down their unpermitted safe streets work.

Today, a couple of the Collective’s members went to the intersection of 4th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown. They began marking off and re-installing a memorial for Nadir Gavarrete, the 9-year-old killed there by a driver earlier this year.

After just a few letters were painted, the crosswalk activists were stopped by an LAPD officer. The source told Streetsblog that the confrontation appeared to be headed toward a citation, but ultimately the police officer did not issue one.

The crosswalk activists left the memorial only partially painted.

Today’s LAPD incident comes on the heels of police breaking up, and ticketing, a volunteer crosswalk organizer in West L.A. earlier this month.

For more information, click through to earlier coverage:

• July 31, 2025 – Drunk driver kills Nadir Gavarrete.
• August 3-4 2025 – As community mourns, Crosswalk Collective L.A. volunteers install guerilla crosswalks, with memorial panel. City announces long delayed safety improvements coming to deadly intersection in 2026.
• Mid-August 2025 – Artist adds additional detail to Gavarrete memorial panel in crosswalk.
• November 12, 2025 – L.A. City scrapes away volunteer-installed crosswalks.
• November 13, 2025 – L.A. City installs new official crosswalks, with quick-build roundabout. City appears to leave space for the community to repaint the memorial.

• December 3 – L.A. City Board of Public Works begins accepting construction bids for permanent 4th/New Hampshire traffic circle project.