Walking

In his insightful article "Struggling student a victim of high fines and misdemeanors," Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez clearly lays out the human cost of so-called "jaywalking" tickets. SBLA includes "jaywalking" in quotes because the term was invented by the auto lobby last century to re-frame how people think about street safety.

The city of Los Angeles has a $27 million set aside for sidewalk repair during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. This is only the proverbial drop-in-the-bucket for L.A.'s estimated $1.5 billion in overall unmet sidewalk repair needs. Based on liability and property concerns, the city is only spending its $27 million repairing tree-root-damaged sidewalks along city facilities, such as parks and libraries.

Jessica Meaney probably needs no introduction for many Streetsblog L.A. readers. She was awarded a 2013 Streetsie for her advocacy work. She's a former boardmember of SBLA's parent non-profit, an occasional SBLA author, and a steadfast voice for people who walk and bike in Southern California. She backs up her statements with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of convincing statistics that quantify exactly how many people walk, and just how little our municipalities invest in their facilities. Until recently she worked for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, where she was one of the leaders behind the L.A. County Active Transportation Collaborative. She recently started an exciting new endeavor, called Investing in Place, which she explains below. 

Last week, the Los Angeles Times published an article titled, "San Francisco residents relying less on private automobiles." It is summarized at today's Metro transportation headlines. The Times highlighted recent good news, reported in early February at Streetsblog SF, that 52 percent of San Francisco trips are taken by means other than a private car: walk, bike, transit, taxi, etc. The data are from a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) survey examining all trips, not just commuting. The time frame is from 2012 through 2014.

Last night, the Citizens Advisory Committee for the design of the new Glendale-Hyperion Bridge met to discuss the city's latest proposal.

This year the LADOT released its annual safety guide for Halloween, a tradition that dates back to 2008.

It seems like a simple concept. If you give pedestrians a walk signal before giving cars the go-ahead, pedestrians crossing at intersections will be more visible and crashes and injuries will be reduced. But in a city where too much of the infrastructure is still designed to encourage cars to move quickly, even a small change that benefits people who aren't in cars will be noticed.