Safe Streets Ballot Measure Runs Into Unexpected Opposition

“One city in Los Angeles County is attempting to do something about car accidents and, especially, the hazards they pose for pedestrians. Soon voters in the City of Los Angeles will consider Measure HLA, an initiative that would force the city to implement its Mobility Plan 2035, which was adopted in 2015. Backers of Measure HLA say that it has implemented as little as 5% of the plan. Meanwhile, some 300 deaths take place annually on the city's streets.”



“In 2023, 336 people died in traffic-related deaths in the City of Los Angeles (half were pedestrians). Meanwhile, between 2014 and 2019, the average number of deaths from accidental structure fires was 14.... Measure can improve public health by promoting walking and biking and even by fostering social relationships. It's a lot easier for neighbors to get to know each other when they're walking down the same sidewalk than when they're both racing to make the yellow light. And, however harrowing a fire may be, at least most of them are accidental and isolated. Measure HLA attempts to undo an entirely intentional, nationwide disaster.”

“Concepts once as obscure and forlorn as ‘complete streets’ and ‘active transportation’ are on the ballot in a famously car-centric city has to be good news, for planners and pedestrians alike. It has at least a chance of making the city safer and more attractive.”