Last night, disgraced councilmember Kevin de León tweeted out a video celebrating the $38.6 million state Active Transportation grant that, together with nearly $9 million in local matching funds, will bring a total of $47.5 million in bike and pedestrian infrastructure to his district via the Skid Row Connectivity and Safety Project.
I am thrilled to announce that I have secured the LARGEST infrastructure grant ever for the Skid Row community! Skid Row will receive a grand total of $47.5 MILLION in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure repairs. To learn more about this amazing grant visit the link in my bio. pic.twitter.com/4KBzwuSB9a
Over a schmaltzy score, de León can be heard proudly expounding upon the "unprecedented" and "historic" investment in the Skid Row community and reiterating his commitment to working with area constituents to get things done.
Viewers are then treated to confusing scenes of him walking around by himself in areas outside Skid Row - pointing at a telephone pole here, pretending to identify the ideal location for a crosswalk or curb cuts there, and being dwarfed by a giant Floss Silk tree while surrounded by a sea of rocks meant to keep unhoused people and other pedestrians from enjoying the space (above).
He speaks only to the camera. Not to the folks in the tents he walks by. Not to the people trying to take refuge under the meager shade of the silk tree's bare branches. Not even to the two Black people featured in the brief snippet meant to represent the hands-on engagement he implies he did with stakeholders during the proposal-writing process.
Many of the more ambitious project amenities, while welcome, are not actually sited in Skid Row, like the expansion of the rocky tree triangle at 8th and San Pedro into a new public plaza for the Flower District.
De León also does not mention that the funding application deadline was in June, meaning that the work on the proposal was complete well before the leaked recording surfaced in October.
The replies on the tweet were turned off, likely in anticipation of the massive dragging such a transparent attempt to rehabilitate his image would inspire. But the QTs - now numbering over 500 - still delivered.
Detractors were particularly appalled by seeing de León tout the benefits of bike infrastructure against a backdrop of tents when the project did nothing to move folks into housing.
Others were angered by his having tried to position himself as a champion of Skid Row while misrepresenting the project as the "single largest infrastructure investment in the history of this [Skid Row] community." The project is likely named "Skid Row Connectivity" because anchoring it in a disadvantaged community gives it a leg up with regard to funding criteria. But the surrounding areas will benefit just as much, if not more. The reconstructed sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, and street trees will be implemented throughout the project zone, for example, but San Pedro - which passes through just a few blocks of Skid Row (below) - will get the bulk of the infrastructure, including 2.4 miles of protected bike lanes and intersection improvements (curb ramps, curb extensions, and enhanced crosswalks). The Flower District - not Skid Row - will get a new public plaza with benches, lighting, hydration stations, and bike share stations at 8th St/San Pedro. And the Piñata District will get wider sidewalks and crosswalks with flashing beacons. [See the full run-down of amenities here or here.]
The 2.4 miles of new bike infrastructure planned as part of the Skid Row Connectivity and Safety Project will improve conditions for folks moving along San Pedro Street and enhance connectivity by complementing some of the existing/pending bike infrastructure in Skid Row. But some of the most significant pedestrian improvements will be in the Piñata and Flower Districts. Pedestrian lighting in the Skid Row area is a benefit, but unfortunately also has the potential to be used as a crime suppression tool.
Jorts the Cat asked if de León was the same guy who choked a protester out while wearing a Santa hat.
And the Skid Row-based Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) called out de León for centering himself while ignoring some of the negative impacts of "beautification" projects.
.@kdeleon is pandering and appropriating in the worse way. The way he’s attempting to highjack Black folks work would make Elvis proud. LACAN has been putting in work since 2017 to get bike lanes and infrastructure in Skid Row https://t.co/NxG5Tb78Lx, and we secured them. https://t.co/BmbTr1MIy6
And, as noted in their video below, even when Skid Row residents made demands for bike lanes, it took years for them to get the infrastructure they deserved in the way that they needed it, making de León's effort to claim credit for a foundation laid by the community - a community that is also disproportionately Black - all the more insulting.
Guess who’s not in the video? You got it, @kdeleon anti-Black ass! Also, his insertion of Black people staring at a computer screen in HIS video would be hilarious if we didn't know it was his “I love Black people” attempt. Trifling AF; leave already. Enjoy the video. https://t.co/BmbTr1MIy6pic.twitter.com/EIKC1JxJzb
Weird optics aside, one of the more notable things about de León's announcement is the timing.
As reported by Streetsblog California, the California Transportation Commission - not Caltrans, as de León says in his video - gave its final approval on the projects two weeks ago, on December 7. The next day, December 8, LADOT put out a press release celebrating Los Angeles' windfall: the city received six separate grants for a total of over $200 million. Most of the grant amounts were similar in size to the one awarded to the Skid Row Connectivity project (the Osborne Street project in Pacoima was actually larger, clocking in at $42.3 million).
A statement accusing Reedy of "launch[ing] a pelvic thrust" was roundly ridiculed. And his testy appearance on CNN - where he claimed that his racist statements weren't racist in context - made him a national laughing stock.
CNN's Kate Bolduan: "Why are you not resigning?"
Kevin de Leon: I'm sorry for not standing up at that meeting and I'm now having constructive conversations on it.
Bolduan: It wasn’t that you just didn’t stand up, you compared a young Black kid to a luxury handbag. pic.twitter.com/OjyLlBwmAt
With council on holiday recess and there being fewer opportunities for physical fracases, de León may have figured this was the right moment to spring some positivity on the populace.
But the shaky smile he offers as he encourages folks to visit the link in his bio suggests even he doesn't believe he is pulling this off.
For more on the events surrounding KDL's return to city council chambers last week, see our coverage here.
Need more context on the Leaked Recording that Roiled L.A.? Find: the full recording, first posted by KNOCK-LA here; An annotated transcript by the L.A. Times here; This reporter’s deep dive into the recording, the redistricting politics behind it, and the backroom deal made to install a new councilmember in the vacant CD10 seat here (if that’s TL;DR, find this reporter’s twitter thread breaking down key parts of the recording here); Former councilmember Mike Bonin’s twitter thread on the roadblocks Martinez, Cedillo, and de León created to good policy in council here; This reporter’s live-tweeting of de León’s chaotic return to council on 12/13 here.
Sahra is Communities Editor for Streetsblog L.A., covering the intersection of mobility with race, class, history, representation, policing, housing, health, culture, community, and access to the public space in Boyle Heights and South Central Los Angeles.
Did somebody say "encore?" Safe streets rock star John Bauters, Mayor of Emeryville, population less-than 13,000, gave Streetfilms producer Clarence Eckerson a tour of his city
Colin Campbell and his wife Gail Lerner lost both their children in a car crash with impaired driver. A new play explores how to talk about similar tragedies.