The City of Los Angeles is considering a policy to address the improvement needs extending over 11,000 miles of sidewalks and paths of travel on Monday November 16th. Investing in Place and partner organizations are concerned that many mobility, safety, sustainability and social equity goals and policies are not being strategically addressed in the recommendations from the City Administrative Offices (5/26/15: New policy for repair and management of sidewalks adjacent to private property).
Therefore, Investing in Place and partners are submitting a comment letter this week and ask others to sign on in support of our recommendations to address these goals. This letter states that we welcome the opportunity to work with the the City to develop a strategic, data driven framework for this policy and work plan. We encourage the City to look beyond sidewalk repairs as simply a budget issue, but to view repairs through a planning lens that examines mobility and quality of life issues, and not only links but strengthens existing local, regional and state policies and goals. And click here to read AARP’s comments on the proposed policy. Thank you AARP!
As Los Angeles County considers a fourth transportation sales with potential to generate tens of billions of new transportation dollars, we look to best practices to guide the framework and metrics used to prioritize investments. And the City of Los Angeles Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan provides just that. It is an example of transportation policy that is based on data and need, taking precedence over political boundaries and supports a citywide vision.
In 2012 the City’s department of transportation (LADOT) launched the Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan to make the most of the city’s resources to address mobility needs for students and families and the 500 public school within the city limits. This strategic plan developed a prioritization and methodology for targeting the top 50 highest Los Angeles Unified District Schools (LAUSD) schools using the criteria:
Collision rates
Number of enrolled students living within walking distance and bicycling distance of the school (thanks to a critically valuable partnership the City of Los Angeles has developed with LAUSD)
Percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunches
Determination if the school has previously received a Safe Routes to School State or Federal grant before
As a result of this data based strategic plan that addresses public health and social equity goals, in 2014 LADOT was successful in being awarded over $20 million from the State Active Transportation Program (ATP) to increase safety through street improvements around nine of the highest need schools, develop complementary safety and education campaigns and create school travel plans for the remaining top 50 high need schools. And the Safe Routes to School strategic plan is also a critical part of the City of Los Angeles Vision Zero efforts, enabling the city to layer on data, need, and prioritization methodology to address social equity and public health in not only in its policies but in its funding decisions.
This local example is a powerful story on how regional transportation funds could be allocated on need and desired safety and mobility outcomes using public health and social equity metrics, data, prioritization methodology and partnerships.
Metro is writing a new comprehensive Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Under the existing LRTP from 2009, Metro hopes to increase the farebox recovery rate of its bus and rail systems. Farebox recovery is the percentage of transit operating expenses that are covered by revenues from transit fares. The current rate is 29%. Metro hopes to increase the rate to 33%. Under current circumstances, this probably means raising the price of bus and train tickets. Here I’d like to explain why I think a different goal is more appropriate for the new LRTP: maximizing ridership.
What would this kind of breakdown look like for other transportation modes?
Charge More?
But first, you might ask: “What’s wrong with charging a bit more?” It’s an understandable question. In order to keep things going, Metro has to match expenditure with revenue. Any organization that keeps running deficits eventually becomes insolvent. So farebox recovery would ideally be 100% and Metro would be in the black, right? Under this scenario, the subsidies keeping the buses and trains rolling are the problem. Society may begrudgingly pay out of a sense of moral obligation to the poor, but users should pay more so that we can keep this handout as small as possible.
Last week Investing in Place met with staff from the City of LA’s Chief Administrative Office (CAO) for a update on the status of the sidewalk repair program. We learned that in early October the City’s Committees of Budget/Finance and Public Works/Gang Reduction will come together to consider the CAO’s sidewalk repair recommendations for policy action, we believe the policy recommendations need to reflect a different approach.
We see this as a critical time for stakeholders to get involved and support a sidewalk infrastructure policy program that:
Views sidewalks as a core part of the City’s transportation network, not piecemealed based on property ownership characteristics (ie City facility, business/commercial, residential).
Creates a citywide sidewalk strategic plan/inventory strategy.
Creates a prioritization plan based on social equity and public health metrics and uses the city’s high injury network (HIN), and other factors to inform the prioritization plan.
Leverages the potential 2016 Los Angeles County transportation sales tax revenue to accelerate the repair program to fix the city’s sidewalks in 10 years, not the proposed 30 years.
Involves and is informed by stormwater capture and tree preservation/replanting strategies.
Supports meaningful community participation during this effort.
Background: On April 1, 2015 the City of Los Angeles announced the settlement on American with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit to fix LA’s sidewalks. After several years of litigation the City of Los Angeles agreed to fix the city’s broken sidewalks and ensure accessibility and safety for all. This legal agreement represents the largest disability payout in the country. The settlement calls for a citywide sidewalk repair plan and spending over $1 billion in funds to fix and improve sidewalks throughout the city within the next 30 years (see LA Times and Legal Aid Society coverage and analysis). This then triggered the City Administrative Office (CAO) to issue a report to Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council, called “New Policy for Repair and Management of Sidewalks Adjacent to Private Property,” in May 2015. This report included recommendations for a comprehensive sidewalk repair strategy, including the development of policies to address sidewalk repairs by other governmental agencies, commercial property and residential properties. This report is still a recommended action by the CAO’s office. It is critical to realize, no decisions have been made by the council on how to proceed further. Members of City Council are currently in the process of assessing the recommendations. They are also holding community meetings, assessing the needs of their districts and requesting input from area residents on sidewalk repair needs. So now is the time for stakeholders to weigh in. Per staff in the CAO’s office, the City Council is expected to decide on sidewalk funding and repair policy this fall, with the goal of approving the policy and staffing levels by December 2015.
It is a critical time to weigh for stakeholders to weigh in on this policy decision. The city is potentially approving a $1.4Billion dollar infrastructure plan without comprehensive strategic plan or funding strategy. The sidewalks in the City of Los Angeles represent one of the most critical public spaces, but are not yet afforded the same luxuries many other transportation infrastructure projects enjoy such as strategic planning, data and inventory collection, safety prioritization, comprehensive funding or being viewed as a core part of the transportation network.
Next steps: We are thinking about hosting a conference call in the first week in October to brief partners on this policy effort and invite LA City staff to share the latest updates, especially before the Joint Committees meeting. Please email jessica@investinginplace.org if you’d like to be involved.
As newly appointed Metro CEO Phil Washington settles into his role, Investing in Place and Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) were pleased to develop a policy brief summarizing research, stakeholder input and collaborative efforts to improve walking and bicycling conditions in Los Angeles County for his review.
A key element in the policy brief was the research conducted by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and LACBC on Best Practices for Funding Active Transportation with County Transportation Sales Taxes. While Los Angeles County is one of the strongest self-help counties in the nation for transportation investments, with close to 70 percent of the county’s transportation funding coming from existing local sales taxes (Propositions A and C and Measure R), none of these existing three county transportation sales taxes dedicates a significant amount of funding towards improving safety and convenience for people walking, bicycling or accessing transit.
This research found, that since 2000, several California counties have set aside as much as 11 percent of sales tax revenues for walking, bicycling and safe routes to school projects and programs, providing a potential model for Los Angeles County as Metro again considers an additional sales tax measure. In addition, many counties subject all funding from the taxes to complete streets policies that require incorporation of walking and bicycling improvements into all projects, while Alameda County requires a minimum percentage of each municipality’s local return be dedicated to active transportation.
Since 2012, the National Partnership, LACBC and Investing in Place have conducted about a dozen convenings with elected officials, policy makers, public agencies and community based organizations across the Los Angeles region. Through these convenings we have found overwhelming support across the county and among the public, nonprofit and private sectors for increasing investments in active transportation. Stakeholders from public health, social and economic justice, environmental and business organizations have rallied around active transportation as a way to address the triple bottom line of environment, economy and equity. Moreover, participants in our convenings have expressed interest in expanding this agenda to address health and social equity outcomes from transportation generally. Our partners see active transportation not as an isolated goal, but as the entry point to expanding our focus on neighborhoods and communities. Read our June 2015 policy brief here.
After several years of litigation the City of Los Angeles agreed to fix the city’s broken sidewalks and ensure accessibility and safety for all. This legal agreement represents the largest disability payout in the country. The settlement calls for a citywide sidewalk repair plan and spending over $1 billion in funds to fix and improve sidewalks throughout the city (see LA Times and Legal Aid Society coverage and analysis).
Next steps include developing a work plan and prioritization of efforts. Right now the City has over $27 million in approved budgeted funds to get started on this work this year. The source of transportation funds for this work beyond the initial $27 million has not yet been identified. The city is also creating a position to monitor the work and will draft reports on its progress twice yearly.
City of Los Angeles announces settlement on ADA lawsuit to fix LA’s sidewalks on 4/1/15
In order to leverage the funds for this scale of infrastructure rehab (over 10,000 miles of sidewalks within the city), an inventory and prioritization process is needed to develop a citywide strategic plan. The data collected and metrics used will enable articulation of detailed costs and an implementation program. Social equity and public health data will need to be critical parts of the performance metrics process to ensure the best outcomes for the highest needs communities in the City. Having a solid strategic plan will enable the city to compete for federal, state and regional transportation funds to complete the infrastructure repair.
Project delivery, transparency and coordination with other Citywide transportation projects will be critical for the sidewalk repair program. 30 years seems like a long time to wait to fix the city’s broken sidewalks, and this process should be accelerated to be completed within 10-15 years. Metro’s 30/10 program offers an example of how this could be done.
However, the City of Los Angeles struggles with delivering transportation projects in timely manner. During the October 2014 Street Transportation Project Oversight Committee and Transportation Committee meetings (audio of meeting, discussion at 58 minute mark), staff discussed the current backlog of safe routes to school, walking, and bicycling projects. This backlog of projects, totaling close to 1/4 of a billion dollars, is waiting for delivery by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Bureau of Street Services (BSS). These are combination of federal, state, and Metro grant funds that the city has been awarded but has not yet implemented.
It is exciting to see the City of Los Angeles ready to fix its broken sidewalks and focus on improving multi-modal travel as seen in the draft mobility plan and DOT strategic plan, but it is critical that the funding and efficient project delivery becomes aligned with these policies goals.
Richard France assists clients with strategic planning, visioning, and community and economic development. He is a strategic planner at Estolano Advisors, where he has been involved in a variety of active transportation, transit-oriented development, climate change resiliency, and equitable economic development projects. His work in active transportation includes coordinating a study to improve bike and pedestrian access to transit oriented districts for the County of Los Angeles, and working with the Southern California Association of Governments to host tactical urbanism events throughout the region. Richard also serves as a technical assistance provider for a number of California Climate Investment programs, including the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities, Transformative Climate Communities, and Low Carbon Transit Operations programs. He has also taught at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Richard received a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA.
Accelerator for America, Milken Institute
Matt Horton
Matt Horton is the director of state policy and initiatives for Accelerator for America. He collaborates with government officials, impact investors, and community leaders to shape infrastructure, job creation, and equitable community development efforts. With over fifteen years of experience, Matt has directed research-driven programs and initiatives focusing on housing production, infrastructure finance, access to capital, job creation, and economic development strategies. Previously, he served as the director of the California Center at the Milken Institute, where he produced research and events to support innovative economic policy solutions. Matt also has experience at the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), where he coordinated regional policy development and planning efforts. He holds an MA in political science from California State University, Fullerton, and a BA in history from Azusa Pacific University. Additionally, Matt serves as a Senior Advisor for the Milken Institute and is involved in various advisory boards, including Lift to Rise and WorkingNation.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Madeline Brozen
Madeline is the Deputy Director of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at the Luskin School of Public Affairs. She oversees and supports students, staff, and faculty who work on planning and policy issues about how people live, move, and work in the Southern California region. When not supporting the work of the Lewis Center community, Madeline is doing research on the transportation patterns and travel needs of vulnerable populations in LA. Her recent work includes studies of low-income older adults in Westlake, public transit safety among university students, and uncovering the transportation needs of women, and girls in partnership with Los Angeles public agencies. Outside of UCLA, Madeline serves as the vice-chair of the Metro Westside Service Council and enjoys spending time seeing Los Angeles on the bus, on foot, and by bike.
Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
Luis Gutierrez
Luis Gutierrez, works in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, as the Director of Energy & Water in the Office of Energy and Sustainability (MOES), Luis oversees issues related to LA’s transition to clean energy, water infrastructure, and serves as the primary liaison between the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Water and Power. Prior to joining MOES, Luis managed regulatory policy proceedings for Southern California Edison (SCE), focusing on issues related to equity and justice. Before joining SCE, Luis served as the Director of Policy and Research for Inclusive Action for the City, a community development organization dedicated to economic justice in Los Angeles. Luis holds a BA in Sociology and Spanish Literature from Wesleyan University, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Cal State LA.
kim@investinginplace.org
Communications Strategist
Kim Perez
Kim is a writer, researcher and communications strategist, focused on sustainability, urban resilience and safe streets. Her specialty is taking something complex and making it clear and compelling. Harvard-trained in sustainability, she won a prize for her original research related to urban resilience in heat waves—in which she proposed a method to help cities identify where pedestrians spend a dangerous amount of time in direct sun, so they can plan for more equitable access to shade across a city.
For over almost two decades, Jessica has led efforts in Los Angeles to promote inclusive decision-making and equitable resource allocation in public works and transportation funding. Jessica’s current work at Investing in Place is grounded in the belief that transparent and strategic prioritization of public funds can transform Los Angeles into a city where inclusive, accessible public spaces enrich both livability and well-being. As a collaborator and convener, Jessica plays a role in facilitating public policy conversations and providing nuanced insights into the interplay of politics, power, and process on decision-making and fiscal allocations.
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