As we wrote last week, LACBC and street safety advocates are activating to inform and engage the LA Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC) on the importance of people-focused street infrastructure projects. A motion, proposed by a special interest group promoting misinformation rather than fact, may lead LANCC to vote in favor of removing all existing traffic-calming safety treatments and ban them across Los Angeles going forward.
We’re working with our partners at Los Angeles Walks and throughout various neighborhood councils to write a letter to LANCC, explaining the importance of street safety in Los Angeles. We invite you to write your own letter (or copy our template below!) to LANCC and your Neighborhood Council representatives. Let them know that you stand for safe streets, and that outside special interest groups should not get to propose legislation that undermines the sanctity of community sovereignty. Find your Neighborhood Council representative here.
Bonus: Save the date for Saturday, January 5 when the LANCC will convene again for a presentation from LACBC and community partners before voting on the anti-road safety motion.
Street Safety Letter Template
Hi LANCC,
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. My name is Your Name, I’m a resident of Your Neighborhood, and it has come to my attention that members of neighborhood councils who sit on LANCC will be voting on a motion to remove proven safety elements from LA’s streets. I am deeply worried about the proposed reversal and desertion of proven road safety measures intended to enhance the livability of our neighborhoods.
I’m writing as cyclist, but also as a (YOUR CHOICE: parent, student, grandmother, school teacher, etc.) I’m writing on behalf of the 500 students, staff, and teachers of Ivanhoe Elementary School off of Rowena Avenue – a street that saw a 33% reduction in severe injury collisions within the first four years of its road diet. I’m writing on behalf of the many Angelenos who bike and walk to access vital resources like work, school, doctor’s appointments, the grocery store. I’m writing to you for the safety of our children, friends, and neighbors. In 2016, the city saw over 55,000 traffic collisions. Every single one of them involved drivers. I’m writing on their behalf as well.
Please stand up for people and vote for street safety at the January 5 LA Neighborhood Council Coalition meeting. Take this opportunity to make sure we don’t lose momentum in our collective efforts to make streets safe for everyone by opposing this proposal to reverse and abandon road reconfiguration projects.
Thank you for time,
Your Name