Check out our hot new Los Angeles Walks bandanas!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by lawalks

When we were thinking about a special gift to give those who supported our Kickstarter campaign, we quickly realized we had to make a limited-edition Los Angeles Walks bandana. This stylish scarf is not only the ultimate fashion statement, it’s a great way to keep the sun off your neck (or the sweat off your face) in LA’s perfect walking weather. It’s what all the cool kids will be wearing as they walk around LA this summer. Donate now to get yours!

Our incredible graphic designer and steering committee member Colleen Corcoran has drawn every type of walker you might encounter on LA’s streets, from the skateboarding teens in Dogtown to the well-dressed flâneur in Downtown (click to see the image a bit larger). She’s also included plenty of landmarks you might encounter while walking in Los Angeles… how many can you recognize? (We particularly love the drawing of the Bonaventure Hotel!)

Make a pledge of $50 or more to our Kickstarter by May 31 so you can sport the Los Angeles Walks bandana on all your warm summer walks! We truly appreciate your support!

But that’s not the only way to show your love for Los Angeles Walks…

And don’t forget our limited-edition posters, available to those who pledge $20 and up. These would look great in the window of a pedestrian-friendly business!

Of course we’ve also got our awesome buttons featuring all Angelenos on foot (because everyone walks in LA). You’ll get a set if you pledge $10 and up to our campaign.

And there’s even more to choose from! Get all your Los Angeles Walks merchandise, plus tickets to our fundraiser dinner June 1, plus custom walking adventures led by our steering committee by pledging to our Kickstarter campaign today!

‘City Walk’ explores walking in America on KCET

Posted on May 4, 2013 by lawalks

So maybe KCET heard us when we gave a thumbs down to their SoCal Connected episode on pedestrian safety? This week the public television station debuted City Walk, a new documentary series that explores walking in America. We were delighted to see none other than our city’s great food critic Jonathan Gold interviewed in the first episode, talking about the walkability of Old Pasadena.

Look for us in the next episode, airing on Thursday, May 30 at 10:00 p.m. on KCET when the producers caught up with us during our WalkLAvia at the last CicLAvia. You can also watch the show online.

Los Angeles Walks responds to the Mobility Element’s EIR document

Posted on April 18, 2013 by lawalks

Late in 2012 the Los Angeles Departments of Transportation and City Planning released their revised Mobility Element plan looking at new ways of moving around the city by using its streets for mobility and beyond. You can see all their recommendations at the LA2B.org site. In January, Los Angeles Walks responded to their Recommendations for a Pedestrian-Enhanced Network with this letter.

The city held two meetings to present the documents, which we attended. They are looking for public comment throughout May, so please read more about how to submit comments or email my.la@lacity dot org

Claire Bowin and My La
Los Angeles Department of City Planning
200 N. Spring Street, Room 667, MS 395
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: Comments on Mobility Element EIR Scoping Documents Regarding Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts and Vehicle-Enhanced Networks

Dear Ms. Bowin and Ms. La,

Los Angeles Walks is writing to provide comments on the Scoping Documents of the EIR for the City of Los Angeles’ Mobility Element Update. Los Angeles Walks is a volunteer supported organization dedicated to promoting walking and pedestrian infrastructure in Los Angeles, educating Angelenos and local policymakers concerning the rights and needs of pedestrians of all abilities, and fostering the development of safe and vibrant environments for all pedestrians.

We would like to reiterate our support for the Mobility Element Update, and its embrace of complete street principles, that we shared in our comments submitted in January of 2013. In that letter, we expressed the need for a pedestrian-enhanced network in the Mobility Element. Los Angeles Walks is pleased that the City has developed a concept for Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts.

We are submitting these follow-up comments to share our thoughts on the Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts Guide and on the Vehicle-Enhanced Network Guide. We view the former as a positive step towards building a more walkable Los Angeles and we are providing feedback on expanding the treatments and policies that can enhance the walking experiences in these districts. Los Angeles Walks opposes the establishment of a Vehicle-Enhanced Network as written since some of the measures identified for the network would endanger pedestrians and other road users; reduce the walkability of streets; generate increased driving, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; and undercut the complete street goals of the Mobility Element update.

I. Feedback on the Proposed Pedestrian Enhanced-Districts

Los Angeles Walks supports the inclusion of Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts in the mobility element as a way to enhance walking in areas of the city that are heavily used by pedestrians and/or areas with potential as spaces for walking. While we believe that every street and public space in Los Angeles should be a safe and pleasant place to walk, Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts can help create highly walkable areas that can be expanding centers and hubs for pedestrian streets, neighborhoods and lifestyles. We have several suggestions for developing, locating and maximizing the benefits of these districts and related pedestrian enhancements:

Examine other indicators of pedestrian activity. The factors and data that the City analyzed to create an initial map of potential areas for Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts are all useful indicators of places that should be enhanced for walking. We encourage the City to also identify areas with low rates of car ownership (in order to enhance equitable access) and high frequency transit corridors.
Add enhancements beyond the sidewalk. As we noted in our January comments, improved sidewalks and safe crossing are essential for safe walking but the nature of the surrounding street and built environment are equally critical to make places where people actually want to walk. Moderate enhancements should include zoning as Pedestrian-Oriented Districts and measures you’ve already included in Vehicle-Enhanced Network concept to “consolidate driveways; for new developments, restrict driveways where side street or alley access is available.” Comprehensive enhancements should include traffic calming, lower speed limits, bans on auto-oriented land uses such as drive-thru restaurants, and prioritization for parklets and street plazas.
Create pedestrian-friendly corridors between Districts. Certain streets that may not qualify for pedestrian enhancement because of lower population density and fewer surrounding amenities may still need pedestrian enhancement due to their use by local residents and at-times dangerous conditions for walking. For example, residential streets (especially those in hilly areas that lack sidewalks or those used as cut-throughs between busier streets) deserve enhancements to make neighborhoods more walkable and to become safe links between residential areas and the denser Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts.
Link Districts in a Pedestrian-Enhanced Network. One solution might be to follow the model of the Los Angeles Bicycle Plan and consider Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts as the equivalent of the Backbone Bike Network. Residential streets in need of pedestrian improvements could become the equivalent of the neighborhood network, receiving traffic calming or shared street treatments.

II. Opposition to the Vehicle-Enhanced Network

Because two of the biggest obstacles to walking in Los Angeles are a legacy of car-oriented traffic engineering and the resulting real and perceived danger that vehicles pose to pedestrians, Los Angeles Walks also examined the draft of a Vehicle-Enhanced Network (VEN). We consider it to be unacceptable as currently presented due to the inclusion of measures that would make streets less walkable and more dangerous. Some of the proposed interventions in the concept, such as expanded express parking meters and restrictions on driveways, make sense. Others, including more roundabouts and more left-turn arrows, can be beneficial if designed to protect pedestrians rather than purely to move through traffic more quickly. However, we have several objections to the Vehicle-Enhanced Network as presented.

1) The VEN runs counter to five of the six goals of the Mobility Element:

Streets prioritized for cars do not put Safety First. The VEN violates the purpose of Complete Streets by endangering some road users (pedestrians and cyclists) to grant quicker movement to vehicles. Increasing vehicle traffic and increasing vehicle lanes will likely lead to more crashes, injuries and fatalities. As Jeff Speck points out in his book Walkable City, large cities in the United States with wide, fast streets prioritized for vehicles have up to five times the traffic fatality rates as big cities with streets designed for, shared by (and slowed down by) pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and transit.
Streets enhanced for vehicles are not World Class Infrastructure. Adding vehicle lanes runs precisely opposite to the international movement for world class streets, which embraces a Complete Streets philosophy and focuses on road diets, bus rapid transit, protected bike facilities, green infrastructure, and placemaking rather than lane and traffic expansions. If anything, the Vehicle-Enhanced Network would move Los Angeles back decades by embracing the traffic-engineering mistakes of the past. Removing street parking for vehicle lanes is a goal that goes all the way back the 1924 Los Angeles Major Traffic Streets Plan and its condemnation of the “promiscuous mixing of different types of traffic” (through trips vs. local trips). It is not a serious or forward-looking priority for 2013 and beyond.
Streets enhanced for vehicles do not provide Access for All Angelenos. First, almost 20 percent of households in Los Angeles do not own cars, and private vehicle ownership is the most expensive of the common forms of urban mobility. In addition to being inequitable, redesigning streets to advantage the movement of more vehicles would reduce access to Angelinos utilizing active transportation. Heavier traffic flows create streets where most people do not feel safe riding bikes. More obese streets also widen the perceived and actual distance that walkers will need to travel to cross traffic, endangering pedestrians and discouraging people from walking.
Streets enhanced for vehicles certainly do not promote a Clean Environment and Healthy Communities. Increased vehicle miles traveled combined with less walkable and bikeable streets will lead to more crashes, injuries and fatal injuries, air pollution, asthma, cancer, physical inactivity, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Streets enhanced for vehicles are not Smart Investments. Streets bring economic value to communities and to the City when they become good places with diverse land uses that support local businesses and other places for people to shop, stroll and connect. Streets designed to allow as many vehicles as possible signal that these places are areas to avoid. These mini-highways drain value from the local and city economy. There are many areas on streets chosen as part of the potential Vehicle-Enhanced Network that have potential as walkable places and/or that are heavily walked and used by local residents despite poor design. These streets and neighborhoods should not be further harmed by increasing vehicular traffic.

2) The VEN is unlikely to achieve its implied purpose of reducing vehicle congestion. Studies agree: Increasing vehicle travel speeds increases congestion because induced demand from more car lanes will cause more driving. The wider streets of the VEN will again fill with cars, leading to more demand for more road widening, and a downwards cycle of frustrated drivers, dangerous streets, and a more polluted, less healthy city. Fortunately, there are alternatives to road expansion. Provision of alternative forms of transportation is important. Land use rules and forms that enable people to live closer to where they work, shop and recreate are also critical since proximity is ten times more effective than speed in allowing people to reach more destinations. (There are many studies to support this: go here and here [PDF] to read more.) Fortunately, the City of Los Angeles is updating community plans, studying transit corridors and preparing to update its zoning code, so there is an opportunity to align land use and mobility to promote walkable communities rather than design wider, more dangerous vehicle-enhanced streets.

3) Los Angeles Walks is doubtful that the City of Los Angeles needs another Vehicle-Enhanced Network. Los Angeles already contains a quite large Vehicle-Only Network: 181 miles of highway. Most of the 6500 miles of L.A.’s streets have been widened and sped up in past decades so that nearly every mile of the street grid is prioritized for vehicles. After a century of favoring cars on the streets of Los Angeles, it is time to prioritize people.

In conclusion, Los Angeles Walks strongly supports the Pedestrian-Enhanced Districts and opposes the Vehicle-Enhanced Network as proposed in the EIR Scoping Materials.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this critical element of the City’s General Plan that will move Los Angeles into the 21^st century with strong support for active transportation that complements our dynamic communities.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss these or any other ideas in more depth or if you have any questions or concerns regarding our comments.

All the best,
Deborah Murphy, Executive Director
Los Angeles Walks

CC: Los Angeles Walks Steering Committee

Top image: Sunset Triangle Plaza is a great example of what could become the center of a Pedestrian-Enhanced Network.

Our response to SoCal Connected’s segment on pedestrian safety

Posted on April 17, 2013 by lawalks

As the Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks, I should have been thrilled when KCET’s SoCal Connected aired a segment on pedestrian safety a few weeks ago. The potential for the segment was huge: It could address a critical issue facing pedestrians in Los Angeles on a mainstream television program where it could be explored in depth for all of us to discuss and debate. (You can watch the full episode here.)

In fact, back in December of 2012, I had received a call from the producer of the program asking me for advice on the segment.

I was excited by the variety of issues the show could address. We could talk about the way pedestrians are not prioritized in the city’s infrastructure, looking at intersections, mid-block crosswalks, driveways, parking lots, and hillside streets lacking sidewalks. We could talk about pedestrian safety technology devices, including design and engineering ideas being introduced in LA that function as traffic calming. Or we could talk about how more teenagers and young adults are choosing to walk, bike and take transit instead of running out at age 16 to get their drivers’ license and buy a car.

But instead, KCET chose to focus on a very small part of the pedestrian safety world and puzzlingly devoted almost the entire segment to their criticism of the installation of high-visibility crosswalks in the City of Los Angeles.

High-visibility crosswalks—which many of us have called “zebra-striped” crosswalks forever, now known as “continental” crosswalks—are the new City of Los Angeles standard crosswalk design and their installation is being prioritized by LADOT (the City’s transportation department) by locations with the highest number of pedestrian-vehicle collisions. (We covered the installation of the city’s first high-visibility crosswalks on our blog in December.) For those of us who have encouraged LADOT to install the continental crosswalks for over 15 years, we are thrilled that this is the new standard and that the prioritization was based on need, not politics.

But KCET had an issue with the LADOT prioritization methodology. They decided that LADOT should have prioritized the locations which saw the most serious injuries as results of collisions—not just the total number of any collisions or injuries.

They also minimized the diversity of the victims of pedestrian-vehicle crashes in the city. When I was contacted by the show’s producer, they asked for a connection to a person they could interview who had been a victim of a pedestrian-vehicle collision. I am lucky that I didn’t know anyone directly, but I did know an African-American friend and colleague of my mother’s who had been in a horrible collision on Florence Avenue in Inglewood near her church in August of 2011. I reluctantly called my mother to ask if she would contact her friend, a long time principal of various schools in the Inglewood Unified School District. My mother’s friend agreed to be interviewed and gave many, many hours of her time to the segment, dredging up the horrible memories of the crash—like being thrown like a rag doll across the street—and reliving all the various surgeries required by her injuries. After giving her time and images of her scars to the KCET cameras, the show’s editors cut her completely out of the segment other than a two-second image of her in the introduction. Instead, the segment mainly focused on one young white woman victim from the Westside—ignoring the fact that the majority of victims of pedestrian-vehicle collisions are Latino and other minorities, and that these collisions are more likely to occur in lower-income neighborhoods.

Another error was an important one when it comes to educating the public about pedestrian safety: KCET used the term “accident” instead of “collision” or “crash,” even after I advised them on why the term is incorrect. The word “accident” implies there was no fault or no possible way to avoid the crash, which most of the time is not the case.

We all waited for months for this segment to be aired on KCET, only to be greatly disappointed by the results. If we truly care about saving lives and preventing injuries, we must present a comprehensive and thoughtful review of the pedestrian safety challenges on our streets. We can’t nit-pick on one issue, like how LADOT prioritized the installation of continental crosswalks, a victory that we have fought long and hard to achieve, at the expense of dealing with the complexity of the pedestrian safety situation. We must hold drivers responsible for the safety of all road users, especially those that are the most vulnerable, like pedestrians and cyclists, and in particular children and seniors.

We must remember that we are all pedestrians in Los Angeles. When we get out of our cars, we are pedestrians. When we get off our bike, we are pedestrians. When we get off the bus, we are pedestrians. We are all pedestrians. Let’s take care of each other out there.

KCET should get out of their news van and get out on the streets.

Los Angeles Walks hopes to take on the challenge of alerting drivers to the safety needs of pedestrians with our “Hey, I’m Walking Here” campaign for LA 2050 and other grant opportunities. We look forward to having all of you join us in our campaign.

—Deborah Murphy

Los Angeles Walks Competes for $100K! Vote for our idea

Posted on April 4, 2013 by lawalks

Vote for Los Angeles Walks to help us launch “Hey, I’m Walking Here: A Campaign Celebrating Pedestrians in the City of Los Angeles!”

Between now and April 17th, Los Angeles Walks is part of the Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050 Challenge, where ten $100,000 prizes will be awarded. But competition is tough! There are close to 300 applicants so we need your support!

VOTE NOW BY CLICKING HERE!

We started to get inspired about this idea last December, after Alissa’s talk at the WIRED 2012 conference in London became a dinner table discussion at an LA Walks steering committee meeting. We laughed over the clip Alissa referenced from Midnight Cowboy where Dustin Hoffman yells “I’m Walking Here!” at a fast-moving car rolling into a New York City crosswalk. But in all seriousness, shouting “Hey, I’m Walking Here” was far too representative of our own LA experience—a place where walking doesn’t get enough respect. We found ourselves becoming inspired by other entertaining yet educational stunts that highlighted pedestrians, like a group of pedestrians that actually moved a car which had stopped in the middle of the crosswalk in Brazil. Or Peatónito, who takes to the streets in Mexico City as the masked Mexican defender of pedestrians. We realized we needed the same kind of cultural touchstone for LA: a movement bringing attention, safety & a bit of fun to walking to help build a healthier, more vibrant LA.

In order to vote for our “Hey, I’m Walking Here: A Campaign Celebrating Pedestrians in the City of Los Angeles” idea, log in with your GOOD account. If you don’t have a GOOD account, it’s free to join. All you need is an email address or a Facebook account to register. You will be emailed a link that you need to click in order to validate your address. Once you join, find us under LA Walks (health) and cast your vote by April 17th!

One vote per participant, so look for us, vote for us, and have your friends vote for us. Please spread the word by sharing our posts/tweets on Facebook and Twitter.

To read more about our proposal ideas and strategies click here and while you’re there cast a vote in support for us!

$3 billion road bond gets a second look

Posted on January 22, 2013 by lawalks

On January 9 we headed to a City Council meeting with many of our street-minded friends to stop a bond measure planned for the May ballot that would allocate $3 billion to repairing roads across the city. Wait—why would we want to prevent streets from being repaired? It’s not that we don’t want the streets to be fixed, but we were concerned about how the streets would be improved. The proposal focused on improvements for cars only, only making changes to sidewalks if money was left over. The way we see it, If LADOT is going to fix some of the most troubled streets in the city, this is a great opportunity to turn them into livable streets that can serve not only cars but bikers and walkers, too.

Our own Deborah Murphy and Jessica Meaney testified along with about 20 other bike and pedestrian advocates. In the end, the council decided not to put the bond on the ballot and conduct outreach to find a better solution. You can read more coverage on Streetsblog as well as on LACBC’s blog, plus you can download the policy brief [PDF] which we signed as an organization.

We’ll be sure to post any news we hear about meetings, but in the meantime you can contact your councilperson to let them know how you feel about the bond.

Los Angeles Walks responds to the revised Mobility Element

Posted on January 20, 2013 by lawalks

Late in 2012 the Los Angeles Departments of Transportation and City Planning released their revised Mobility Element plan looking at new ways of moving around the city, using its streets for mobility and beyond. You can see all their recommendations at the LA2B.org site. Los Angeles Walks responded to their Recommendations for a Pedestrian-Enhanced Network with this letter. You can respond by leaving a comment here.

Claire Bowin and Jane Choi
Los Angeles Department of City Planning
200 N. Spring Street, Room 667, MS 395
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: Mobility Element: Recommendations for Pedestrian-Enhanced Network

Dear Ms. Bowin and Ms. Choi,

We write as the steering committee of Los Angeles Walks, a volunteer supported organization dedicated to promoting walking and pedestrian infrastructure in Los Angeles, educating Angelenos and local policymakers concerning the rights and needs of pedestrians of all abilities, and fostering the development of safe and vibrant environments for all pedestrians. Los Angeles Walks is pleased that the City of Los Angeles has launched an inclusive process to update the mobility element of the City’s General Plan and is seeking to embrace complete streets, safety and multi-modal transportation as goals for mobility in Los Angeles.

We appreciate that city staff are considering pedestrian safety and enhancements as you revise street classifications and design a complete streets network for Los Angeles. It is encouraging to see that you are considering wider sidewalks as one method for improving walking conditions in the city. As you are aware, and as many commentators in the online and in-person components of your public outreach on the mobility element have noted, larger and better-maintained sidewalks are a necessary but not sufficient condition for enhanced walkability. Other factors that influence peoples’ decisions whether, when and how far to walk include:

Conditions, urban design and land uses on the building side of sidewalks that can detract from walking (such as parking lots, curb cuts, blank walls, and large front and side set backs); or that enhance walking (such as buildings extending to the front of property lines, multiple storefronts on a block, transparency in facades, ground level retail)
Block length and spacing between crosswalks
Conditions on the street side of sidewalks that detract from walking (such as fast, noisy, polluting vehicular traffic); or that enhance walking (such as frequent transit service, bike lanes, low speed limits and traffic calming, street trees to buffer traffic)
Safe street crossings at both signalized and unsignalized locations
Pedestrian amenities on the sidewalk (such as seating, shade, landscaping)
Public safety including adequate lighting
Land use and zoning rules that influence whether people live within walking distance of the destination that they need to visit regularly

While a mobility element and street classifications can’t remove all barriers to walking in Los Angeles, we believe that a complete street network can be designed to substantially enhance walking and to prioritize pedestrians uses where appropriate. Los Angeles Walks suggests designating three ‘layers’ of pedestrian-enhanced streets that can be used in different parts of the city and in some spots combined to create world-class walking streets. We also encourage street design standards that enhance pedestrian
safety in all locations.

Shared Space streets: The city should designate certain narrow, low-traffic streets as pedestrian-enhanced shared spaces. In these streets, pedestrians would be expected and encouraged to walk not just on sidewalks but in all areas of the public right of way. Cyclists and some vehicles will also share the space with pedestrians. Very low speed limits and traffic calming road designs to prevent motorized vehicles from moving fast would keep all users safe in shared space streets. Alleys, low-traffic residential streets (especially narrow streets that lack sidewalks) and some short streets, dead ends or cul-de-sacs, etc are the types of streets that could be designated as shared space streets. The city could look at the Dutch woonerf as a model for shared space streets.
Pedestrian overlay zones: Pedestrian overlay zones (or pedestrian oriented-district designation) can help make major commercial corridors and centers into better and safer places to walk. These zones address land use issues that impact the pedestrian experience. Los Angeles is increasingly using urban design guidelines, community plans and specific plans to shape a more pedestrian-oriented streetscape. A number of cities including Seattle use such zones to restrict new land uses that are unfriendly or dangerous to walking (such as car-oriented businesses, drive-through retail, parking lots at the front of businesses, excessive driveways and curb cuts, blank walls, etc); and/or to phase out/ amortize existing grandfathered/ non-conforming uses. We would anticipate that commercial and mixed use corridors, areas near transit stations, and new transit-enhanced and bicycle-enhanced networks would be good locations for pedestrian overlay zones.
Car-free areas: The city should designate some blocks or districts as car-free areas. CicLAvia and temporary street festivals and famers markets prove that residents of Los Angeles will throng to streets when they do not have to contend with motorized traffic. Many cities around the world have made parts of their street network off limits to cars to enhance pedestrian access, create great public spaces, reduce pollution, promote public health and boost commerce and tourism. Los Angeles should identify areas that have high pedestrian activity or potential and plan to phase these in as car-free zones. The city can learn from the logistics of cities throughout the world in terms of granting limited access for delivery vehicles and emergency services; clustering parking on the edge of car free areas, etc.
Streets designed for pedestrian safety and appeal: Walking safety and appeal can be enhanced along all streets through street standards that limit the speed that cars and trucks drive. As the City updates its mobility element, it should institute a moratorium on street widenings to endure that no street becomes more dangerous to pedestrians and/ or a worse place to walk. Street cross sections and design, including the number of lanes used by motorized traffic, the width of lanes, and intersection, signal, crosswalks and other traffic calming treatments can help ensure that vehicles do not exceed posted speed limits. The City should also reduce speed limits, starting with its ability to cut speed limits to 15 mph on residential streets in school zones.

Los Angeles Walks looks forward to continuing to provide input on the city’s revised mobility element.

We are happy to meet with city staff to discuss these and other ideas for enhancing pedestrian safety and access throughout Los Angeles.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss these or any other ideas in more depth or if you have any questions or concerns regarding our comments.

All the best,
Deborah Murphy, Founder
Los Angeles Walks

CC: Los Angeles Walks Steering Committee

Top image: EaCa Alley in Hollywood is a great example of how to transform a space for cars into a pedestrian-friendly zone.

The 12 best things to happen to L.A. pedestrians in 2012

Posted on December 19, 2012 by lawalks

From pedestrian coordinators to polka-dotted plazas, this was definitely a banner year for L.A.’s walkers. Across the city, we’re seeing physical improvements to our streets and sidewalks as well as a changing perspective from citizens who are actively proving a certain ’80s song wrong. Of course, we still have a long way to go—we still have far too many pedestrian collisions, including a recent “epidemic” of hit-and-runs—but we definitely think 2012 was a big step in the right direction for making the city more safe, accessible and fun for walkers. So, in no particular order, here are our picks for the 12 best things to happen to L.A. pedestrians this year.

1. The city appoints two pedestrian coordinators: Walkers won two official advocates in City Hall this year as the LADOT named two pedestrian coordinators: Margot Ocañas and Valerie Watson. The duo is working hard to update L.A. pedestrian infrastructure—like signaling, striping, and signage—and improve safe routes to schools and transit. And speaking of safety…

2. L.A.’s first continental crosswalk: Just this week, L.A. saw one of its greatest pedestrian victories as a “zebra stripe” crosswalk debuted at the intersection of 5th and Spring. Our own Deborah Murphy spoke at the press conference with Mayor Villaraigosa on how the new design will help make walkers more visible. 53 more crosswalks are planned for 2013, at intersections prioritized due to their high rate of pedestrian collisions.

3. Jeff Speck’s Walkable City book: Part urban planning primer, part love letter to walking, the former design director for the NEA’s fantastic book makes an excellent case for why focusing on the pedestrian experience will improve our cities. Not since Jane Jacobs have we seen a writer who describes a vibrant American sidewalk with such eloquent, blissfully jargon-free writing. The book only has a few examples from L.A., but maybe that’s a good thing—learning from the stories of other cities in this book will certainly help to inspire some change right here at home.

4. Sunset Triangle Plaza: Who would have guessed that a half-block of chartreuse polka-dots would get so much attention? An unprecedented collaboration between Streets for People, the L.A. City Planning Commission and the L.A. County Department of Public Health resulted in the city’s first street-to-plaza conversion in Silver Lake for only $25,000. The plaza itself needs some tweaks—the color’s still controversial, neighbors complained about the loss of parking, ugly plastic barricades showed up after a car took out a few planters—but the good news is that the process is documented, and any community can adapt (and improve on) the model for their neighborhood.

5. Parklet pilot program approved: In August of this year, the City Council approved a new pilot program pioneered by the UCLA Complete Streets Initiative to build parking space-sized parklets across the city. Four locations were announced right away, and if the six-month program goes well, more will pop up around L.A. in 2013. We’re all for the parklets, but we prefer the more L.A.-specific name: Let’s call them “plazitas!”

6. Christopher Hawthorne’s Boulevards project: As part of a series that launched this year, the Los Angeles Times architecture critic has been documenting L.A.’s famous boulevards, from Sunset Boulevard’s changing personality to Harbor Boulevard’s history of political unrest. The fact that the architecture critic at our paper of record is focusing on L.A.’s streets shows a true shift in the city’s attention to urban design. Bonus: Maybe because of Hawthorne’s project, the L.A. Times launched a campaign to let readers report damaged or missing sidewalks.

7. Police return to Pedestrian Advisory Committee: After Los Angeles Walks, Midnight Ridazz and LACBC presented at City Council, police representatives re-joined the LADOT’s Pedestrian Advisory Committee, signifying a unified commitment to safer streets. Especially in light of the recent rash of pedestrian deaths on L.A. streets, this partnership is extremely important. (If you’d like to attend an upcoming meeting, the committee is still looking for representatives from many council districts, details here.)

8. Opening of the Expo Line and Orange Line extension: These two projects illustrated the dedication of the city to providing transit options for its residents as it continues building (rebuilding?) a world-class transportation system. The Orange Line now connects the extremely popular bus rapid transit line to rail in Chatsworth, and the new Expo Line brought much-needed service to South L.A. and Culver City. And, despite political battles, the second phase of the Expo Line is on schedule, which means we might be riding that light-rail-to-the-sea as soon as 2015.

9. The L.A. Weekly’s hit-and-run investigation: A devastating feature in the L.A. Weekly just a few weeks ago explored the tragic “epidemic” of hit-and-runs on our streets: 48 percent of traffic accidents in Los Angeles are hit-and-run offenses (much higher than the national average of 11 percent), and approximately 100 pedestrians are killed each year in Los Angeles by hit-and-run drivers. Yet the city and LAPD are not doing enough to prosecute and prevent these crimes (read our response to the article). Investigative journalism like this is important to amplify the conversation about safer streets, and we applaud the Weekly for taking on this issue. Update: They even did an excellent follow-up article on how hit-and-run victim Don Ward tracked down the driver who hit him.

10. Big objects moving through L.A.’s streets: First it was a boulder for LACMA, then it was a space shuttle for the California Science Center. (What’s next? One of the pyramids creeping up the PCH en route to the Getty Villa?) But instead of eliciting groans from drivers, closing our roads to move Levitated Mass and Endeavour to their destinations transformed L.A. into massive street parties where people discovered new ways to navigate the city without their cars.

11. It started to feel like everyone walks in L.A.: From the Big Parade to the Great L.A. Walk, from Trekking L.A.’s neighborhood walking tours to the L.A. Conservancy’s exploration of historic districts, we saw a groundswell of pedestrian tours, itineraries, and events throughout the city. Our only regret is that we can’t possibly keep up with all of the pedestrian urban exploration happening around us!

12. Rebirth of Los Angeles Walks: Of course we couldn’t help but include a revitalized Los Angeles Walks in our round up. You might know that L.A. Walks has been around in some form since the ’90s, but 2012 saw our official relaunch with a new steering committee and vision for the city. After our awesome karaoke fundraiser in April, we set to work on our campaigns, hosting three community meetings across the city, and we organized “WalkLAvia” parade down Figueroa during the autumn CicLAvia. And we got plenty of press which helped connect local walkers to our cause. We’re excited for 2013 and hope that you’ll join us as we work to make L.A. a great place for walkers. Thanks to everyone for your support!

Did we miss your favorite pedestrian moment for L.A.? Let us know in the comments!

—Alissa Walker

Continental crosswalks make their debut in downtown

Posted on December 18, 2012 by lawalks

Just in time for the holidays, the intersection of 5th and Spring in Downtown LA received a pretty special gift: Shiny new continental crosswalks that are wider, clearer and safer for pedestrians. And this isn’t a one-off: 53 crosswalks across the city—prioritized due to their high rates of pedestrian collisions—will get the same makeover in 2013. This is a huge victory for LA walkers, who will finally get the same safe street crossings which are already found in many cities around the world.

Mayor Villaraigosa announced the new crosswalks at a press conference yesterday along with LADOT representatives and the city’s two new pedestrian coordinators, Margot Ocañas and Valerie Watson. And we were thrilled that Los Angeles Walks founder and chair of the LADOT Pedestrian Advisory Committee Deborah Murphy was asked to speak after the Mayor, citing the importance of these crosswalks in showing Angelenos that “we are all pedestrians.”

The new crosswalks feature two-foot-wide “zebra stripes” that make the pedestrian crossing area more visible, as well as a “stop line” five feet from the crosswalk that discourage cars from entering the zone. You can download a PDF that explains more about the thinking behind the crosswalks, and contains a list of the intersections that will see the new crosswalk design. We’re happy to say that the press conference was attended by many members of the media, and stories were reported on local news stations like ABC and blogs like Blogdowntown.

Afterwards, everyone had a little fun with the new crosswalks. The LADOT pedestrian program team posed for an Abbey Road-inspired photo.

The Mayor, Deborah, other members of LADOT and the Mayor’s office took a walk across the new crosswalk (that’s photographer Gary Leonard capturing them on the left). They were joined by a few curious walkers as well.

But perhaps our favorite part was when Deborah presented the Mayor with a Los Angeles Walks poster! We’re so thrilled to be a part of this positive change for pedestrians in LA. Let us know if you spot the new crosswalks in your neighborhood, and keep us posted about how else we can make walking safer, more accessible and more fun for Angelenos.

Check out all of our photos from yesterday’s event!

How to stop LA’s hit-and-run “epidemic”

Posted on December 9, 2012 by lawalks

Los Angeles Walks joins many in expressing concern over statistics uncovered by a recent LA Weekly article on the high prevalence of hit-and-run accidents in the City of Los Angeles and the frequent lack of effective response by law enforcement and city leaders. According to the Weekly, 48 percent of traffic accidents in Los Angeles are hit and run offenses, much higher than the national average of 11 percent. Approximately 100 pedestrians are killed each year in Los Angeles by hit and run drivers.

Motor vehicle crashes are a significant threat to public safety, especially for pedestrians and children. We blogged earlier this year about how pedestrians in Los Angeles were disproportionately likely to be victims of fatal car crashes compared to national statistics. Motor vehicle crashes are the third leading cause of preventable death in Los Angeles County, behind only coronary heart disease and homicide. Motor vehicle crashes are even more dangerous to children and to young adults. These crashes are the single highest cause of death [PDF] (not just preventable death) for children ages 1-4 and the second highest cause of death for children and young adults between the ages of 5-24.

As such, law enforcement agencies and policy makers should be taking car and truck crashes very seriously, with a focus on prevention, enforcement and prosecution. It is shocking and disappointing to read so many accounts of tragic deaths and injuries that suggest a lax attitude towards hit and run offenses from some police, prosecutors, and elected officials. The city and LAPD do not keep track of how many injuries and deaths result from hit-and-run crashes. There are not enough traffic enforcement officers to respond to all fatal hit-and-run crashes, let alone hit-and-run incidents that cause severe injuries. Few fleeing drivers are ever tracked down by police. Those that are, or who turn themselves in, often get light criminal sentences, like a drunk driver in a case profiled by the LA Weekly who maimed a cyclist but received just six months of community service.

The City of Los Angeles needs to get serious about reducing fatalities and injuries from all motor vehicle crashes, especially hit and run incidents. Here are some steps we think they should take:

Publicize the crisis of deaths from motorized vehicle crashes and set targets and strategies to address the problem. If Los Angeles fails to even collect data about hit and run injuries and fatalities, how can it reduce the carnage? LAPD and city leaders are proud of progress made in lowering homicides and should bring the same focus to reduce vehicular killings by increasing staffing, enforcement and punishments to deter unsafe driving and catch hit and run offenders.
Design roads for safety rather than for speed. The best way to reduce speeding, unsafe driving, and resulting crashes and deaths is to design and transform streets so that drivers are constrained and influenced by the physical layout of the road to move at a safe speed. Narrower lanes and traffic calming measures cause drivers slow down more effectively than posted speed limits on a wide, straight street engineered to remove all obstacles for fast motor traffic.
Invest in pedestrian infrastructure and programs proportionate to the need. Nearly 20 percent of trips in Los Angeles are on foot and 32 percent of traffic fatalities are pedestrians but only 1 percent of transportation dollars go to pedestrian infrastructure or safety improvements. Money spent on more visible and better lit crosswalks; on improved lighting for sidewalks and intersections; on education on sharing the road with walkers; and on calming and redesigning streets with the highest rates of pedestrian deaths can reduce accidents and make walking safer for all.
Lower speed limits to protect pedestrians, especially children. Pedestrians hit by a car travelling 20 m.p.h. have just a 5 percent chance of being killed. The fatality rate skyrockets to 85 percent when a car is travelling 40 m.p.h. Many cities around the world are setting speed limits near schools and in residential and other highly walked areas at 20 m.p.h./30 k.p.h.

Let us know how you’d like to help make walking in the city of Los Angeles, and your neighborhood in particular, safer, by signing up for our newsletter and attending one of our upcoming meetings.

—Mark Vallianatos

Los Angeles Walks

Everyone Walks in L.A.

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