For Immediate Release: December 7, 2022

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LOS ANGELES -- Today, the Los Angeles City Council took a critical vote to support a motion introduced by Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Mike Bonin, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson to establish the the Livable Communities Initiative (LCI) as part of the City's 2021-2029 Housing Element. The legislation directs City departments to report back on strategies that will facilitate well-designed mid-scale development along suitable transit-rich corridors; promote the creation of housing units where they do not currently exist; ensure that qualifying projects invest in community amenities and infrastructure; and introduce financial and regulatory tools to help fund public improvement projects along identified corridors. 

Los Angeles is facing an acute housing, climate, mobility, and affordability crisis, making it difficult to build much-needed affordable housing due to speculative land prices and complex development regulations. The LCI will develop strategies to meet these challenges by utilizing innovative land use approaches to create mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods across Los Angeles near jobs and transit. The legislation further directs departments to put together meaningful community- and data-driven processes that can help identify suitable transit-rich corridors and objective administrative development and zoning standards to achieve these goals. 

“The Livable Communities Initiative is a sustainable, comprehensive, and equitable plan that will incentivize the City to build critically needed housing, including affordable units, along appropriate transit-rich corridors while also investing in public infrastructure improvements,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman. “I’m excited to continue working with the dedicated advocates whose persistence got us here today to move this vision forward.”

“The Livable Communities Initiative is the way forward for Los Angeles to right the wrongs of decades of exclusionary housing laws, which have made our communities inequitable, our commutes intolerable, and our neighborhoods unaffordable—especially on the Westside,” said Councilmember Mike Bonin, Chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee. “I am so inspired by the grassroots energy fighting for this inclusive vision of safe and livable neighborhoods and proud to have worked with them to move this legislation forward.”

Councilmember Harris-Dawson stated, “Our City government must meet the needs of this moment, and Los Angeles needs solutions to our current housing shortage. The Livable Communities Initiative has the potential to expand housing development and, most importantly, incorporate inclusionary housing requirements. I am glad that we, as a Council, have approved a solution-oriented strategy, and I look forward to the equitable implementation of this policy.”

"We are incredibly grateful to the City Council and so many Angelenos for supporting this vision to create walkable communities near transit that provide a more livable, affordable, safe and sustainable option for less car-dependent lives,” said Livable Communities Initiative Co-Founder Lindsay Sturman. “We hope this plan will address housing, climate, traffic, and street safety all at once.” 

“For too long, Los Angeles has failed to build homes that are affordable for our essential workers – our bus drivers, nurses, restaurant workers, those who take care of our children – people who are the engine of our city,” said Ed Mendoza, policy director of the Livable Communities Initiative. “I believe the LCI will help make Los Angeles more inclusive, equitable and inviting for everyone.”

LCI is included as Program 131 of the City’s recently adopted 2021-2029 Housing Element, a state-mandated plan to show sufficient zoned capacity for housing that also outlines strategies for housing production, affirmatively furthering fair housing, and creating mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods across Los Angeles near jobs and transit. The current Housing Element cycle designated a record target of 456,643 new units for the City of Los Angeles, which the City must accommodate by 2029. 

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For Immediate Release: November 20, 2022

LOS ANGELES -- Today, Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Mike Bonin, and Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion to amend the City’s existing policies around street widening to prioritize active transportation and shade trees. The City’s current regulations result in inconsistent spot widenings that provide minimal public benefit and make our neighborhood streets more dangerous and inhospitable. New regulations would call for public improvements to promote multimodal accessibility, good street design, and sustainable infrastructure.

Since 1961, the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) 12.37 and the Highway Dedication process has mandated street widening via dedications and required roadway widening improvements for any new multifamily and commercial developments. These widenings often create incoherent streets that degrade neighborhood character, undermine active transportation, reduce tree canopy, and expand impermeable surface area—all contrary to the City’s mobility and sustainability goals.

“For years, we have prioritized making streets easier to drive on, rather than easier to walk, bike, or roll on, creating an infrastructure that both undermines accessibility and harms our environment,” said Councilmember Raman. “Given the potential damages of roadway widening and the limited benefits, the onus of this process should be reversed, with no roadway widening unless under exceptional circumstances.” 

"The City can't build streets that will serve our needs in the future with rules and processes created decades ago," said Councilmember Mike Bonin, Chair of the Transportation Committee. "It's long past time to revisit all the outdated and oftentimes automatic processes that our City uses to perpetuate suburban sprawl rather than building livable and sustainable communities--especially when those policies drive up the cost of housing. Every City agency and bureaucratic process should push us forward toward safer and more sustainable streets."

“Automatic street widenings are a relic of a car centric past that destroy trees and make pedestrians and cyclists less safe,” said Michael Schneider, Founder and CEO of Streets For All. “I’m grateful to Councilmembers Raman and Bonin for leading the charge on ending this practice in Los Angeles.”

Michael Manville, UCLA Professor and author of a study on road widening published in 2016, stated, "For decades, LA's street dedication process has undermined the city's goals of creating a more affordable, multimodal city, while doing almost nothing to reduce its road congestion. It is an example of pseudoscience in urban planning, and it is long past time for reform."  

The proposed motion from Councilmembers Raman and Bonin instructs the Bureau of Engineering, in consultation with the Department of City Planning (DCP), the Department of Transportation (DOT), DCP’s Urban Design Studio, and any other relevant departments, to report back within 60 days with recommendations on: reforming the initial requirement and waiver of dedication and/or improvement, preserving consistent roadway widths, prioritizing pedestrian experience, protecting existing trees and parkways while planting new ones, incorporating green infrastructure elements, and ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities. A checklist of public benefit findings would be required prior to a street dedication and/or improvement that results in a roadway widening.

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For Immediate Release: November 22, 2022

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LOS ANGELES -- Today, Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Mike Bonin, and Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion to ensure the outdoor advertising revenue generated under the City of LA’s new Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program (STAP) contract are directly reinvested into improvements for the public rights-of-way, which can increase safety and accessibility for transit riders and people walking. STAP provides and maintains street furniture, including transit shelters that provide riders with protection from increasingly extreme weather conditions.

“Earlier this year, we saw a clear mandate led by safe streets and mobility justice advocates for urgency in implementing the City’s Mobility Plan equitably and expeditiously — and a marked commitment from the Council to meet that demand,” said Councilmember Raman. “Sufficiently funding improvements that make our public rights-of-way safe and comfortable for Angelenos who walk and ride transit is an essential step in doing so.”

The motion proposes a new citywide fund and program drawn from advertising revenue to directly support staffing, administration, planning, design, and implementation for improvements including: transit access (bus boarding islands, curb ramps, etc), pedestrian access and safety (new sidewalk construction, pedestrian lighting), street furniture amenities (water stations, shade structures, bike parking structures, parklets), and street trees.

"Creating this new fund will put the City's money where we say our priorities are: making our streets more accessible and comfortable for people who walk, bike, and take transit," said Councilmember Mike Bonin, Chair of the Transportation Committee. "The City shouldn't ask communities to tolerate commercial advertising on public infrastructure while failing to reinvest that revenue back into the streets that generated it. Safe, comfortable, and accessible bus stops and sidewalks are more than amenities--they are essential public infrastructure."

The fund, titled Reinvestment in Accessibility, Infrastructure and Streetscape Enhancements for Los Angeles (RAISE LA), diverges from the City’s previous street furniture contract, which allocated half of advertising revenues to the City’s General Fund, with the remaining half allocated to the Street Furniture Revenue Fund for individual Council District discretion in spending. 

“Creating a new STAP program that is set around more equitable and accessible transit shelters was not easy but we got it done. One of the key pillars of our plan is to ensure that more shelters come with improved infrastructure,” said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, Chair of the Public Works Committee. “This motion will help solidify that goal and I’m grateful to my colleagues for sharing the urgency to make this program a success.” 

The motion further requests City departments to report back after a year of having the new STAP contract in place with a recommended plan to equitably address deficiencies in transit and first-last mile mobility safety, security, and accessibility with RAISE LA funds. Finally, the motion instructs relevant City staff to prepare language needed to change existing code and to officially create the fund.

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For Immediate Release: November 14, 2022

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COUNCILMEMBER NITHYA RAMAN LIGHTS CITY HALL IN HONOR OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFIC VIOLENCE 

LOS ANGELES -- This week, Councilmember Nithya Raman will light City Hall yellow to commemorate World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on November 20, 2022. 245 people have been killed due to traffic violence in the City of Los Angeles this year, with over 1,000 people seriously injured – a significant rise since the previous year. City Hall will be lit for the nights of November 14th through November 17th to honor those who have lost their lives. 

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was adopted by the UN in 2005, and is commemorated globally. The day presents an opportunity to raise awareness around this often overlooked issue, drawing attention to the emotional and economic devastation caused by road crashes, and recognizing the victims and their families. 

“It is unacceptable to see so many of our fellow Angelenos killed and seriously injured while traveling on our streets,” said Councilmember Raman. “We must push for comprehensive interventions that alter the fundamental nature of our streets, especially those that have the highest rates of traffic violence. We must fight for our streets to be safe places for all Angelenos.”

“BikeLA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is more than our new name, it is a call to action for all Angelenos to embrace the many benefits of bicycling – but every year, we have to reckon with the growing number of bicyclists and pedestrians dying in our streets because of poor transportation infrastructure,” said BikeLA’s executive director Eli Akira Kaufman. “BikeLA acknowledges the leadership of Councilmember Nithya Raman to invest in a future Los Angeles where our roadways serve the mobility needs of all Angelenos, no matter how they choose to get around. Our aim is for the invitation to bike LA to become a reasonable option for everyone, everywhere, any time in Los Angeles.”

"Since the initiation of Vision Zero by the Mayor of Los Angeles in 2015, Los Angeles has seen a 51% increase in serious injuries and fatalities. During this time there has been a vacuum of leadership and a fractured willingness to make the hard choices to prioritize the lives of our community over the desires of a few to speed and drive recklessly,” said Damian Kevitt Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone. “Lighting up City Hall in yellow to remember the 1,931 lives lost and the 10,231 people severely injured since Vision Zero started (2015-2021) is largely symbolic – but, the fact that those lives are being remembered for the first time gives me hope that, with a new cohort of elected officials, and with leaders like Councilmember Raman, the City of Los Angeles will finally act in unison, to reverse the red tide on the streets of Los Angeles."

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For Immediate Release: August 18, 2022

LOS ANGELES -- Today, the Office of Councilmember Nithya Raman announced the permanent closure of a ⅔ mile stretch of Griffith Park Drive to personal vehicle use, following a unanimous vote by the Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners for the City of Los Angeles. This closure will effectively extend a successful pilot program that has received a groundswell of community support from a wide array of user groups; people biking, on horseback, hiking, running, and others who have welcomed the increased access to active recreation and the reduction in cut-through traffic. 

“I am so excited to bring the road revolution home to Council District 4,” said Councilmember Raman. “Our office, in partnership with the Department of Recreation and Parks, worked with lightning speed to make this closure along Griffith Park Drive a reality, and we have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from the community. This is the start of a series of transit improvements our office is facilitating throughout Griffith Park, to ensure the park is a safe and welcoming place for all who use it.”  

The closure of Griffith Park Drive is the first in a series of recommendations resulting from the Griffith Park Safety & Mobility Feasibility Study, overseen by Council District 4 and the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP), and being conducted by the consulting firm Kimley-Horn. The Study divides its recommendations into short, medium, and long term implementations and the latest public presentation can be viewed here. While both the Council Office and the Department of Recreation and Parks had been looking to make interventions in Griffith Park to promote the safety of active transportation users, the Study was put on a more aggressive timetable, after the death of Andrew Jelmert, a bicyclist who was struck and killed by a driver. 

“Safety in our parks is at the forefront of our Department’s mission, and we will continue our commitment to improve mobility to and within Griffith Park”, said Jimmy Kim, General Manager, Department of Recreation and Parks. “Thank you to Councilmember Raman, our many park stakeholders, and Kimley-Horn for working in close coordination with us on the closure of Griffith Park Drive and on future active transportation improvements for the park.”

“The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition celebrates the permanent closure of this stretch of Griffith Park Drive to cut-through car traffic,” said Eli Akira Kaufman, Executive Director of Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. “At a minimum, our parks must prioritize the well-being of people who visit for a peaceful walk or bicycle ride without fearing for their lives. The decision to reduce the number of vehicles speeding through the park is a good step toward preventing the next needless traffic violence tragedy. After all, Griffith Park is for the community, not the commute.”

“Closing this stretch of Griffith Park Drive to private vehicles will make the Park safer for everyone, including wildlife,” said Gerry Hans, President of Friends of Griffith Park. “This accomplishment follows in the footsteps of closing Mt. Hollywood Drive and Vista Del Valle in 1992. Soon after, these roads were transformed and became safe meccas where passive recreationists, including people hiking, people biking, and families could be seen enjoying the urban wilderness.”

“This is a huge step towards restoring Griffith Park to its original purpose as laid out by Mr Griffith when the park was entrusted to the City of Los Angeles 1896,” said Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone. “I see it as an important first step towards a new Golden Age for Griffith Park.”

The Office of Councilmember Raman, in partnership with the Office of Laura Friedman and the Department of Recreation and Parks, will be hosting a community celebration in Griffith Park on Friday, August 19th, where the announcement of the closure will be made public. The event is open to all—families with children, people biking, people hiking, anyone who enjoys Griffith Park and believes in the preservation of our natural habitats.

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For Immediate Release: June 29, 2022

LOS ANGELES -- Today, Council adopted two resolutions introduced by Councilmember Nithya Raman in support of State bills for safer, more equitable streets – Assembly Bill 2147 and Assembly Bill 1909. AB2147 seeks to decriminalize jaywalking when it is safe to cross the roadway, while AB1909 intends to comprehensively change the rules and restrictions on bicycle operations in California, improving safety conditions for cyclists across the state. 

“Many of the laws that govern our streets were designed to prioritize vehicles over pedestrians or cyclists. As we work to move away from a car-first approach to our streets, we need to update our rules and regulations to serve everyone, not just drivers,” said Councilmember Raman. “The changes put forth by AB2147 and AB1909 will make our streets more equitable for all, creating safer options for pedestrians crossing the road and significantly reducing injuries for people biking.” 

AB2147, or “The Freedom to Walk Act,” introduced by Assemblymembers Phil Ting and Laura Friedman, promotes the fair and equitable use of streets by legalizing crossings outside of a crosswalk or against a traffic light when it is safe to do so. This legislation will protect vulnerable people walking against arbitrary, racially-biased, pre-textual policing, as well as burdensome fees and fines, and unnecessary interactions with law enforcement. 

AB1909, also introduced by Assemblymember Friedman, is a bicycle omnibus bill that seeks to address a number of different issues related to California bicycle laws, including eliminating the authority of local jurisdictions to restrict or ban electric bicycles on bicycle paths and only allow the prohibition of electric bicycles on equestrian trails, hiking, and recreational trails. The legislation would also allow people biking to follow leading pedestrian intervals at such signalized intersections, which yielded a 26% decrease in injuries of people biking when enacted as a pilot program in New York City. 

Councilmember Raman’s resolutions ask the City of Los Angeles to include in its 2021-2022 State Legislative Program support for AB 2147 and AB1909. 

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