This post refers to a time-sensitive topic. Ballots have already been delivered. Please read now and share with 10 friends.
Measure HLA, also referred to by proponents as Healthy Streets LA, asks voters to require the city to redesign streets to be safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Sounds like a good thing, right?
What isn’t readily apparent is that the law will be tied to the Mobility Plan, a plan that is so controversial and expensive, our city council has all but ignored it since adopted in 2015.
If approved, Measure HLA would require the city to implement a street modification as laid out in the Mobility Plan whenever there’s an improvement to at least 660′ (1/8 mile) of a road or sidewalk.
Effectively, this measure will result in either unimproved streets (😱) or road diets (😱😱😱). I call the Measure “Hello Road Diets.”
Proponents have poured almost $2M into their campaign, including huge billboards at high accident locations. Oh that should help the accident rate. 🙄
Opponents have spent $0, relying on grassroots and social media.
One of my good friends in our community who works tirelessly, but anonymously, bugged me for weeks to jump on this measure. Honestly, I’m still kind of burned out from all the work we did opposing the last draft of the Community Plan Update, so I was slow to jump on.
But she sent me a description of the measure written by Chris LeGras, co-director of the leading voice in opposition to HLA. I readily saw the implications of the bad measure and swooped into action with a post on NextDoor. In just a few days, that post got 42 comments and 31 reactions, overwhelmingly in opposition to HLA and its mandatory road diets.
It’s easy for us to understand the implications. We lived through the short-lived PdR Road Diet and are still living with the Mar Vista Road Diet. I’m confident how our community will vote if they understand the mandatory Road Diets that come with HLA. I’m more concerned about the rest of the City and voters with no idea what a Road Diet looks like and how disruptive it will be.
Disruptive and expensive. In fact, our Councilwoman introduced a motion to the City Council on Wednesday asking for an analysis of the financial implications of the measure, if passed.
Go figure. Some group can put a measure on the ballot with a lot of happy talk, manipulate voters to support it and the city is left with the tab. Sound familiar? It’s 100% the playbook Sacramento has been using recently with housing policy and housing laws.
If it’s more than our budget can support, new taxes are headed our way.
Look, we all agree that any death is one too many, but HLA is a sledgehammer for an ant (and an expensive sledgehammer at that). There has to be a more measured and reasonable way to address the fatality issue.
Please help me spread the word about this measure. Ballots are already in the hands of voters. Please share this post with 10 friends and ask them to do the same. Share it on your social media. Shout it from the rooftops. Please. 🙋♀️🙋♂️
