Invoice to Assist Cities Make “Gradual Streets” Everlasting Transferring in Meeting – Streetsblog California
Legislation introduced by Congregation member Adrin Nazarian (D-LA) that would change state laws regarding road closures and speed limits on local roads is moving through state legislature. The aim of AB 773 is to give cities the opportunity to make the “slow streets” created during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent. The bill will be heard by the Assembly’s Local Government Committee next Wednesday, May 5th.
Last spring, cities across California, from Sacramento to San Diego, introduced local variations of Slow Streets programs. Barricades, some better than others, have been erected on designated slow roads to slow traffic or to ban through traffic to create safe places for people to exercise, relax, exercise or just plain during the COVID crisis can be outside. With California appearing to be starting to get out of the crisis, many people who live on or near Slow Streets want the program to stay in place.
“The Los Angeles Slow Streets program has provided children, families and constituents in our city with the opportunity to play, exercise and socialize safely in their neighborhood during the pandemic. It should be expanded,” Nazarian said in one Press release when introducing the legislation.
“I am grateful that I spent a lot of time with my family this year taking advantage of the slow streets in our neighborhood and I am encouraged to offer this opportunity to so many others.”
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) reached out to volunteers who have been up and running the Slow Streets program to find out how to make Slow Streets permanent on the streets of Los Angeles. During the initial rollout here, advocates of unsafe driving on local roads complained to the city that the Slow Streets program was in violation of CVC 21101, which prohibits cities from closing roads unless very specific criteria are met. LADOT responded with a certain rollback of the program.
AB 773 would counter this by making it easier for cities to lower speed limits and even permanently block local roads if the block would make the streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and other non-motorized road users. Just because it’s legal to make a slow street permanent doesn’t mean that current programs will automatically become permanent. Cities promise a public process to identify suitable Slow Streets projects that are permanent and what types of safety improvements to add to those streets. This process is already underway in major cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“Slow streets have been an integral part of our communities for a year now,” writes Michael Schneider of Streets For All, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that promotes slow streets. “Congregation Nazarian’s bill will give Los Angeles even more control and flexibility as we strive to make the current slow roads permanent and expand the program even further.”
Right now, Los Angeles Slow Streets have a plastic bollard that may or may not have been partially destroyed by the weather or drivers, and a change to Google Maps as protection for Slow Streets. Other cities, including Oakland, where the programmed Slow Streets pioneered at the start of the pandemic, have more aggressive signage.
In San Francisco, the Slow Streets program is run by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority (SFMTA or Muni). The SFMTA has set up a website that explains the five-step process for what are known as permanent slow roads. You are currently in Step 3 – Identifying Persistent Slow Roads – and will next enter a phase of contact with the affected communities. In Oakland, the DOT announced in its regular assessment of Slow Streets that it would outline a plan for long-term improvements in its Slow Streets areas. In Los Angeles, LADOT reached out to Slow Streets volunteer coordinators to begin the public process in the densest neighborhoods of Slow Streets.
But for the cities hoping to turn quick projects into permanent neighborhood improvements, AB 733 can’t come soon enough.
“COVID-19 has forced us to find creative ways to get outside and enjoy our communities while staying closer to home,” said Los Angeles Supporter and Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“With Congregation Member Nazarian’s bill, we can keep our Slow Streets program intact and grow so that we can turn neighborhoods into accessible spaces and give people the space they need to relax healthily.”
Note: Damien Newton is volunteering as the Slow Street Coordinator for Mar Vista Slow Streets in Los Angeles.
