Support Mobility Plan 2035 for a Safer, More Sustainable Transportation

On Tuesday August 4, the Los Angeles City Council will consider Mobility Plan 2035, the first comprehensive update to the city’s transportation policies since 1999. A lot has changed since the 1990s: we now have regular CicLAvias, and the voter-approved expansion of the region’s transit system is rapidly under construction. Our streets are now seen as places for people, not just thoroughfares for cars. Technologies like real-time transit info, ride hailing apps, and bike share promise to give Angelenos new tools to take full advantage of the new infrastructure being built. The adoption of the unprecedented Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles earlier this year has grounded mobility conversations in the context of health and equity, recognizing that better transportation policy provides economic mobility for underserved residents while promoting community health and active transportation. And, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Sustainable City pLAn calls for increasing walking, biking and transit to 35% of all trips in just 10 years to help meet the city’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. The resulting Mobility Plan 2035 is a plan that is right for Los Angeles and right for our multimodal future.

What does the Mobility Plan do?

Makes safety the City’s #1 transportation priority, particularly the safety of children walking to school.
Sets design speeds for city streets and provides engineering and enforcement solutions to stop the constant increase in speed limits.
Proposes a new network of protected bike lanes across L.A.
Doubles city funding for walking and bicycling.
Calls for annual bicycle and pedestrian counts by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT).
Sets a performance metric of zero increase in car travel per person.

You can see the entire Mobility Plan 2035 and EIR here.

As with any significant progress, skeptics and naysayers are vocally opposing the Plan, either in whole or in part. Some neighborhood groups are fearful that a transition away from a car-dominated city to a balanced system might snarl traffic or delay emergency responders. Meanwhile, a vocal minority are taking this opportunity to attack specific projects, which threatens to piecemeal a well-planned citywide network. This Plan is supported by a broad base of residents, business groups, environmental organizations, and health advocates. Now is the time to demonstrate that support to the City Council.

Take Action to Support the Mobility Plan!

Join us for another #MobilityMondayLA day of online action this Monday 8/3!

Attend the joint Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) and Transportation Committee at 2:30PM, Tuesday, August 4th at City Hall Room 340 (Council Chamber).
Email the LA City Council Transportation and PLUM committee members - sample below
Share/tweet that you did it! (sample tweet: “I just called @PaulKoretzCD5 to support Mobility Plan 2035. You should too! www.la-bike.org/mobilityplan #MobilityMondayLA”)

Sample Email

To: [email protected], [email protected]
cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected]
Bcc: [email protected]

Subj: Support Mobility Plan 2035 for safe & sustainable streets! CF#15-0719

Dear Honorable Councilmembers:

I support adopting the Mobility Plan 2035, including ALL of its proposed networks. As a ___________ (e.g. bike rider, pedestrian, transit user, driver, business owner, student, parent, etc.), I strongly support this Plan because I believe that it will help make L.A. streets better for all of us walking, biking, taking transit and driving.

A well-connected network of protected bike lanes and other complete streets improvements the Plan includes will give people healthier options to get around our neighborhoods and our whole city. Calmer traffic and safer streets are critical to protect and enhance our quality of life. We need this plan to build on the progress made by the 2010 Bicycle Plan and make all modes of transportation work together for our city. The modal networks in the Plan were carefully crafted to balance the needs of all who will use them. We can't afford to piecemeal them to appease local naysayers without undermining their citywide utility.

I am especially distressed by a councilmember's recommendation to remove bike lanes on Westwood Blvd from the Mobility Plan 2035. At a time when the City of Los Angeles is working to become more walkable and bikeable, we need more safe bike lanes connecting popular destinations like Westwood Village and UCLA to neighboring communities--not fewer. According to the L.A. Department of Transportation (LADOT), along this half mile stretch, more than 8 times as many collisions occur between vehicles and bicyclists than similar streets in Los Angeles. Without proper accommodation for bicyclists, Westwood will continue to fail the thousands of students and faculty who ride to the campus every day, as well as the countless more who will come when the Expo Line opens next year. Not to mention anyone wishing to visit the area’s shops and restaurants by any means other than motor vehicles. Please keep the Plan's networks intact and keep Westwood Blvd. in the Plan.

(Personalize here)

Please approve the Mobility Plan 2035 so that we can all travel safely on the streets of L.A.

(Your name)
(Your address)

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