As Newsom Talks The Talk, His Citizens Walk The Walk: Locals Forced To Take City Matters Into Their Own Hands

Los Angeles residents fed up with unsafe streets have started painting their own crosswalks — only for the city to scrub them away.

Jonathan Hale, a resident of Sawtelle, spent roughly $200 on paint and enlisted neighbors to lay down makeshift crossings near Stoner Park, the Los Angeles Times reported. City workers erased the guerrilla crosswalks about two months later, citing federal accessibility rules that require official markings to meet specific standards, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Trump Admin Sues Los Angeles Over Sanctuary City Policies)

City Councilwoman Traci Park told LAist she asked transportation officials to leave the DIY crosswalks in place.

“What is the worst that could possibly happen?” Park said. “This intersection is at least slightly more safe while we try to figure out the next steps.”

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA – FEBRUARY 23: Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies gather evidence from the car that golf legend Tiger Woods was driving when seriously injured in a rollover accident on February 23, 2021 in Rolling Hills Estates, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The city’s Department of Transportation reportedly claimed it hadn’t received any formal requests for crosswalks near Stoner Park. But the mayor’s office told the Times that the Bureau of Engineering logged multiple sidewalk accessibility requests in the area between 2017 and 2018.

“The Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA) primarily uses our annual resurfacing program to determine the locations of access ramps that we design and install; we do not work off a request-based system,” StreetsLA spokesman Dan Halden told the outlet.

The city launched its Vision Zero initiative in 2019 in an effort to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries — a goal sparked by more than 75 fatalities each year on unincorporated county roads.

But the city’s efforts have fallen flat. Los Angeles saw 303 traffic-related deaths in 2024 — a rise since Vision Zero began, LAist separately reported.

Crosswalk request: “We have been asking for crosswalks here for years and I have the 311 service requests to prove it. There are no markings on the pavement and we are ONE BLOCK AWAY from an elementary school!”

Two crosswalks painted at N. Ave. 56 & Meridian in Highland Park. pic.twitter.com/f6AxRYWaxU

— Crosswalk Collective LA (@CrosswalksLA) August 16, 2024

“We don’t need years of studies to tell us that there should be crosswalks and slow streets by a park and schools and day cares — those are just obvious things,” Hale told the Los Angeles Times. “If you stand on any one of these corners for long, you’ll see kids running around and you’ll see close calls … I figured that the crosswalk was something that benefited people and didn’t hurt anybody.”

As recently as Thursday, a 9-year-old boy was struck and killed by a driver near South New Hampshire Avenue and 4th Street, ABC7 News reported. The Department of Transportation flagged that very intersection in 2021 as part of a safety effort, promising a roundabout — which still hasn’t been built.

As residents resort to DIY fixes, many feel state leadership is absent. More than half of Californians say Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is more focused on a 2028 presidential run than the state’s mounting problems, according to a UC Berkeley poll from April.