Councilman called to open LA streets to residents during COVID-19 pandemic

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin called Monday for the city’s streets to be more open for residents to walk and bike during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bonin said his office has received an increasing number of requests from residents, especially seniors and families with children, to make the streets temporarily accessible for them.

“During the past month, we have all experienced the ways in which our neighborhood infrastructure does not support new patterns of local essential travel and does not provide sufficient space for local recreation,” Bonin said.

Bonin sent a letter asking the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to consider recommendations and proposals to make the streets accessible to foot and bicycle traffic.

“Our sidewalks are too narrow, our streets continue to be unsafe for biking and some motorists are taking advantage of congestion-free streets to speed recklessly even as more people are moving around on foot and bike,” the councilman said.

Bonin said any recommendation would still require people to practice social distancing and to follow the city’s the Safer at Home orders. He said families that don’t have yards at their homes have found it difficult to get outdoors to exercise in the midst of the pandemic.

The Del Rey Neighborhood Council has formally requested a “temporary emergency safe streets network” to support essential travel while constituents in West Los Angeles have developed plans to create “slow zones” for motorists, according to Bonin’s office.