safe streets

So much of what we do within this field is aimed at addressing vulnerabilities - including threats to health, safety, and overall well-being - in order to build healthy, resilient, inclusive, livable, and just communities and cities. And yet, all too often, those with the power and resources to influence debates on what constitutes a valid form of vulnerability or how it should be addressed themselves have limited experience with or knowledge of the wider range of intersectional vulnerabilities faced by just about everyone that is not an able-bodied heterosexual cis-gender white male.

A conversation about how to have uncomfortable conversations, moderated by Charles T. Brown and featuring Tamika Butler, Sahra Sulaiman, Sonia Jimenez, and author Richard Rothstein.

The focus on South L.A. is due to the high rate at which pedestrians and cyclists are killed or severely injured (KSI) in collisions with vehicles. Case in point - sixteen of the twenty-five most dangerous neighborhoods for cyclists and pedestrians called out on the map below are in South L.A.

Recently, the city has been busy testing out a number of low-cost fixes aimed at enhancing pedestrian safety along some of Los Angeles' high-injury corridors as part of the push to implement Vision Zero.

Central Avenue has long been known as one of the more pedestrian- and bike-unfriendly streets in the city. It is a fast-moving thoroughfare (especially at night) whose traffic patterns are made more complicated by the number of heavy trucks that trundle down it around the time that school lets out.

J.C. and Miguel are hoping that before-and-after images of several sites that they've identified will tell us something about stasis and change in the 25 years since the acquittal of four white officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King sent people roiling into the streets back on April 29, 1992.

Last Thursday, Metro and Cityworks Design held two meetings to lay out the design options for Segment A of the Rail-to-River project for the community and to solicit feedback.

"Maybe you didn't catch that you jumped into a convo specifically about transportation/police issues?" snarked the self-described "police/community relations specialist" and bike advocate.

"Remember, the end goal is to get to 20% reduction [in traffic-related deaths] by next year, and then zero by 2025," said MIG Consultant Esmeralda Garcia of the city's effort to put together an action plan to implement Vision Zero.