Streets for All Announces L.A. 25×25 Challenge to Re-Allocate Public Space for People

Today, Streets for All announced its L.A. 25×25 Challenge. The campaign asks Los Angeles City leaders to endorse giving 25 percent of street space back to the people by 2025. Per the campaign website, this would “massively expand Slow Streets, Al Fresco outdoor dining, plazas, green space, bus shelters, tree planting, pedestrian space, and bus and bike lanes” and would be “the largest and most progressive change on L.A.’s streets in many decades.”

More from the campaign webpage:

Taken together, streets and sidewalks are Los Angeles’ largest publicly owned asset. Despite the spatial abundance of 55,360 acres of streets crisscrossing 61,358 intersections, many Angelenos’ everyday lives in our public right of way are largely relegated to uncomfortable or even hostile existence. All too often are we sitting in gridlocked traffic, waiting for late buses without shade, navigating broken sidewalks, or crossing dangerous streets.

Los Angeles has been built for driver convenience at the expense of people walking, riding bikes, and using transit. Because of this, the majority of Angelenos drive to work (75 percent as of 2017) because they don’t have any other safe and reliable option. 86.3 percent of our public right of way is devoted to car use and storage. The remaining scraps of space are devoted to part-time bus lanes (.08 percent), largely unprotected bike lanes (0.96 percent unprotected, 0.06 percent protected), and broken sidewalks (10.6 percent).

Streets for All have been soliciting L.A. 25×25 pledges from community groups and candidates running for L.A. City offices.

To date, L.A. 25×25 coalition partners include: Abundant Housing L.A., ActiveSGV, Central City Association of Los Angeles, Climate Resolve, Day One, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Move L.A., and Streets Are For Everyone.

The following candidates have also signed on to 25×25:

• Mayor: Jessica Lall
• Controller: David Vahedi and Kenneth Mejia
• City Attorney: Kevin James and Marina Torres
• Council District 1: Eunisses Hernandez
• Council District 3: Yasmine Pomeroy
• Council District 5: Molly Basler, Jimmy Biblarz, Scott Epstein, Katy Yaroslavsky, and Sam Yebri
• Council District 9: Curren Price and Dulce Vasquez
• Council Distict 13: Al Corado, Dylan Kendall, Kate Pynoos, and Hugo Soto-Martinez
• Council District 15: Bryant Odega

See the campaign’s Sign Ons page for the current list of L.A. 25×25 endorsees.

Streets for All notes that the L.A. 25×25 challenge is inspired by (and received the blessing of) a New York City’s Transportation Alternatives NYC 25×25 campaign.