Investing in Place and our partners (see list below) are excited to host a free Saturday advocacy training summit called The Tripping Point: Valley Edition on Saturday, October 21, 2017 from 9:30am – 2pm. It is an advocacy summit for smooth sidewalks, streets trees, bus shelters, benches, stormwater capture, curb ramps, and crosswalks in the City of Los Angeles.
Want to find out more and get involved? Awesome. Join us Thursday September 21st at 1pm for a conference call. Please email Amanda Meza to receive the call in number.
Ways you could get involved? You could propose a session, help us think out key issues, weigh in on the draft agenda, help with outreach, volunteer day of – and more.
The first Tripping Point was hosted this past Summer and was conceived by a coalition of advocacy groups to demonstrate the vast constituency in improving sidewalks, bus stops, crosswalks and more in the City of Los Angeles. We were so inspired by it – we are doing it again – this time in the Valley.
Who attends the Tripping Point? The Tripping Point is a space where city agency staff and residents can work together to address the concerns and areas of opportunity to advocate. The Tripping Point is free to attend and will offer Spanish interpretation and child care as well as food and refreshments for registered participants.
Background: It is estimated that over 45% of the City of LA’s sidewalks and crosswalks are in disrepair. The City of LA has not had a comprehensive program to fix the city’s sidewalks and crosswalks since the 1970s. A recent class action lawsuit that sought to ensure better access to the city’s pedestrian infrastructure for persons with mobility disabilities resulted in a $1.4 billion settlement by the City of Los Angeles, the largest such settlement in U.S. history. This lawsuit has secured the leadership and funding commitments necessary to finally jumpstart efforts to fix LA’s sidewalks.
Partnering organizations for Tripping Point: The Valley Edition include: AARP, American Heart Association, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, Outfront/JCDecaux, Koreatown Youth Community Center, Los Angeles Walks, LURN, and the Southern California Resource Services for Independent Living.
Download our one pager: the Tripping Point – The Valley Edition here.
Would love to participate in this effort. Great work! We will be training City officials from the Valley on First/Last Mile Planning on Nov 29 2017 with Deborah Murphy and Metro and it would be great to have some constructive, not-too-confrontational community advocates to participate to help policy makers understand diverse community perspectives (disabled, transit dependent, older, younger, bicyclists, etc)
— Alison Kendall