Safe Routes to Schools

Given that approximately 80 percent of all students live within a quarter-mile of both schools and two-thirds of all students walk or bike to class, the improvements are welcome.

Self Help Graphics to finally own its site, affordable housing approved for three sites, and funds allocated for improvements along key streets

LADOT has implemented a new school-hours scramble crosswalk to safely get students to Starr King Middle School.

It's Walktober, and today is International Walk to School Day! The L.A. City Department of Transportation (LADOT) set up a helpful Los Angeles Walk to School Day website with supportive tips, a map of participating schools, and other great stuff. 85 schools are participating in this second annual citywide Walk to School Day LA with 66 of them participating today.

California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill 1151, which would have raised fines for traffic violations in school zones. The legislation, authored by Senator Anthony Canella (R-Ceres), was co-sponsored by the Safe Routes to School National Coalition, transportation advocates TransForm, and the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program. The bill was designed to reduce traffic violations near schools, and money raised from the fine increases would have been earmarked for programs that encourage walking and biking.

Yesterday's Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee meeting featured a number of livability issues that deserve more in-depth attention: Safe Routes to School, bicycle and pedestrian traffic counts, parking privatization, and more. SBLA will do a brief re-cap, and will track and report on these issues more in the future.

It is no secret that in America, and especially in Greater Los Angeles, too many children do not walk around their own neighborhoods. Whether it is fear of "stranger danger," safety in the neighborhood, or the allure of electronic babysitting, many of today's youth spend too much time indoors, and not enough doing something as simple as walking.

This past Tuesday, early in the afternoon, 11-year-old twin sisters Sydney and Alexis left Walter Reed Middle School and began to walk home, a trip that ended at Colfax Avenue and Moorpark Street when they were hit by a car as they attempted to cross the street.