Our first community meeting was a great success!

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Los Angeles Walks thanks everyone who came to our first community meeting on Tuesday July 10 in Echo Park! The Downbeat Café was packed with more than 40 participants, each with a unique and inspiring vision of how to make Los Angeles more walkable. We broke into three small groups to discuss ways to make walking in Los Angeles more Safe, Accessible, and Fun, with each group considering Equity. We heard several key themes repeated throughout the meeting:Public Space and Connectivity

  • Recognize streets and sidewalks as public space
  • Reconnect space and neighborhoods in the city

Sidewalks and Infrastructure

  • Add more sidewalks and make them wider and cleaner, with shade trees and streetlights
  • Ensure that every street has safe crosswalks and sidewalks

Fun and Events

  • Have free community street events for families and children
  • Make sidewalks more fun using street art, colors, and signage
  • Organize clean-up walks, neighborhood tour walks

Lifestyle and Culture

  • Ensure that all Angelenos can do daily activities and errands without needing a car
  • Create a culture that respects and celebrates pedestrians

Traffic Enforcement

  • Enforce traffic laws, including speed limits and text messaging bans

Land Use and Planning

  • Prioritize walking in transportation planning and funding
  • Create more mixed use zoning to encourage people to be on our streets at all times of day
  • Legalize, preserve, and restore public art

Transit

  • Integrate the pedestrian and public transit networks
  • Enhance bus stops creatively

Improvements to Specific Areas in the City

  • Improve pedestrian safety and user experience in several specific places throughout Los Angeles
  • Get people involved in enhancing walkability in their own neighborhoods

After the meeting, many of the participants headed to a nearby bar—on foot, of course! Thanks again to all of the participants and our hosts at the Downbeat Café for such a great evening. For those who couldn’t make it, stay tuned, as we will be hosting more community meetings throughout Los Angeles in the future!

If you are interested in getting involved with any of these projects, let us know! We are always looking for volunteers and partners in our efforts to make walking in Los Angeles more Safe, Accessible, Fun, and Equitable.

—Rachel Bennett