Councilmember Nithya Raman Introduces Motion to Improve Implementation of Mobility and Safety Improvements in the City of Los Angeles

For Immediate Release: February 15,  2024

LOS ANGELES – This week, Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion, co-presented by Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, directing the city to build on previous recommendations and pilot measures (including the BLAST program) to enhance coordination between City departments and more efficiently deliver mobility and safety improvements. The motion will also prepare the City for potential implementation of Measure HLA, which will be on the March 5th ballot, should it pass. It will build in those aforementioned important coordination procedures which are needed in any event, should it not. 

Measure HLA, or the City Mobility Plan Street Improvement Measures initiative, calls on the city to implement Mobility Plan 2035 – the Circulation Element of the City’s General Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2015 – every time an eighth of a mile of street, or about 660 feet, is repaved. If approved, HLA is expected to result in increased options for mobility and safety, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, more walkable communities, and fewer travel barriers for active transportation and those who cannot drive. Most significantly, these improvements will reduce the staggering rise in traffic fatalities, which are at an all time high.

“Every year that I have been in office, the number of people who have died in traffic collisions has gone up – from 294 people in 2021 to 336 in 2023. This is nothing short of a public health crisis, and it is our duty as leaders in this City to build safer streets,” said Councilmember Raman. “Measure HLA was put on the ballot by Angelenos frustrated with the City’s lack of progress on this front, and I share that frustration. I believe that coordination and strategic capital infrastructure planning between our agencies that work in the public right of way is the best way to utilize the transportation funds we already receive, allowing us to successfully implement the Mobility Plan alongside our other goals such as keeping our roads in good condition, reducing speeding, and improving accessibility.”

The motion identifies that a number of revenue sources are currently dedicated to transportation and the public right of way, and that these sources could potentially be put to better multi-benefit use through enhanced coordination. It identifies that existing City obligations, such as the provision of ADA compliant sidewalks and curb ramps, that further the goals of the Mobility Plan could be, and sometimes, have to be, installed alongside other projects in the public right of way, such as repaving.

The motion instructs the Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Street Services to enhance and formalize pilot efforts and strategic coordination between their two agencies, including identifying a set-aside for projects in identified mobility corridors, developing a proposed work plan for project delivery, and working together on all projects along mobility corridors.

The motion also asks for an immediate status report on Council File 23-0919, a report on initiating a Capital Infrastructure Plan for the City, as well as reports from the City public safety agencies and the City Attorney on the costs they incur as a result of responding to fatal and severe injury crashes on our roads.

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