Proposed Ballot Measure Would Require L.A. To Enforce Own Mobility Plan

A coalition of community groups and safe streets advocates in Los Angeles is proposing a ballot measure that would speed up the city's adoption of its own Vision Zero goals as set out in its mobility plan. As AC Schick reports for Annenberg Radio News, "This initiative would create a safer and greener city by improving public transportation, environmental standards, and protecting cyclists and pedestrians."

Per Streetsblog L.A.'s Joe Linton, "Healthy Streets L.A. would require the city to implement its own approved Mobility Plan whenever the city repaves or otherwise works on a street." Despite passing the Mobility Plan 2035 in 2015, the city has not made much progress on the plan's stated goals. According to Linton, "Mayor Eric Garcetti failed to task his transportation department with implementing approved multimodal facilities that might marginally delay drivers." Linton points out that "According to Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, L.A. has only implemented 95 miles out of 3,137 miles of Mobility Plan features – about three percent in seven years."

Schneider is quoted in the Annenberg Radio News article as saying, "If you look at the city’s high injury network, which is the six percent of streets to make up the majority of injuries and deaths in the city, the majority are in South LA, East LA, downtown and central LA. And so if we want to do a service to people in those communities stopping them from dying in the street just by trying to bike or cross the streets, the ballot measure would be a great first step."

To reach the ballot, the measure needs roughly 93,000 signatures or votes from eight city council members.