As every Westwood resident knows, walking in the Village is no walk in the park.
Nor is driving in the Village, or biking in the village or really doing any sort of moving in the village.
The congested and chaotic state of our streets is no groundbreaking revelation. It’s a maddening sacrifice every L.A. commuter eventually just accepts: Getting anywhere takes double the amount of time it reasonably should and is dependably accompanied by angry honking.
But last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council, in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, solidified what has been a teasing promise since last fall for safer streets with a hefty, 62-page strategic plan, dubbed “Great Streets for Los Angeles.”
Since Westwood is a small neighborhood in the greater Los Angeles metropolis, it’s easy to ignore City Council initiatives, but here’s a curveball: This one matters to the Westwood community. And more than that, Westwood should matter to “Great Streets for Los Angeles.”
The project goals address many of the traffic struggles we face daily in Westwood. “Great Streets” will install more crosswalks, offer real-time public transport and parking information, improve transportation customer service and, most ambitiously, eliminate all pedestrian fatalities in Los Angeles by 2025. The project also aims to renovate 15 “Great Streets” throughout the city – one of which is our very own Westwood Boulevard – to be more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly.
During the upcoming “Great Streets” renovations, City Council must recognize that paying particular attention to Westwood will bring economic returns. More accessible streets can help make Westwood a permanent home, rather than a temporary college town.
Westwood, like many other college towns, is a transitory community that breeds students and then lets them fly free after their four years at UCLA.
It’s worth convincing our population of educated graduates to stick around, but investing in Westwood is a two-way street.
The city must show that it can and will continue to take care of the UCLA student community if it wants us to stay and embark on our future endeavors here. Attention from the city will also cater to Westwood businesses, which seek the stable environment that long-term residents provide, and restaurants, which will be able to introduce sidewalk dining.
“Great Streets” has the potential to turn Westwood into a place we can imagine putting roots down in, as opposed to a temporary place with a commuting problem that we put up with in exchange for a short-term education or career start. It would take as simple a gesture as re-cementing our long-neglected streets for City Council to begin cementing a long-term relationship with Westwood locals.
City Council has practical reasons to focus on our neck of the woods during street renovations, anyway. We channel the Metro, the Big Blue Bus and the Culver City Bus. We have already proposed bike lanes and repaired uprooted sidewalks. Westwood Boulevard specifically can be a useful template for the “Great Streets” project.
On the flip side, Westwood residents must recognize the personal benefits of the city’s venture to spruce up our streets. Westwood Boulevard will be re-paved potentially as soon as this month, and LADOT’s parking program, LA Express Park, is planned to expand to Westwood parking structures such as the one on the corner of Broxton and Weyburn avenues in spring 2015, said Westwood Village Improvement Association Executive Director Andrew Thomas. These parking updates will offer real-time information about parking spot availabilities, effectively easing the hunt for parking for students in the area. Meanwhile, re-timed crosswalks will allow us to cross an intersection without waves of anxiety.
More pedestrian-friendly streets will also unify our sometimes disconnected community by encouraging students to come down to the Village more often as well as business owners to develop relationships with the UCLA community.
Rebuilding the chaotic city of Los Angeles will be no easy feat. But dusty, noisy construction is nothing new here in Westwood, and if that’s the price we have to pay for smoother travels, we can afford it.