Innovation in the Streets of LA

It also cleans 6,500 miles of public roads (including sidewalks, bikeways, and medians) and manages nearly 700,000 street trees as part of the City’s urban forest. 

The BSS repairs approximately 300,000 square feet of broken sidewalk pavement annually and installs ADA compliant access. They provide weed abatement, repair potholes, and support the Mayor’s Complete Streets Program, his Great Streets Initiative, and have been instrumental at rolling out the innovative called the Cool Pavement Program. 

Boring stats but this is a crucial and busy department. 

The New BSS 

The BSS has experienced a long-overdue rebirth in the wake of Adel Hagekhalil’s appointment as Executive Director/General Manager (photo above bottom left with Mayor Eric Garcetti), and rebranding as StreetsLA. 

Drawing on skills developed in the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, he has added a strong holistic component and made it a department about people as well as pavement. 

The BSS previously used miles paved to measure its work. This can favor paving less-damaged streets. The metric was changed to be the percent of street network in good repair. The Bureau thinks that this pavement preservation metric change provides a better assessment of its overall performance. 

This may mean fewer miles paved, but it encourages addressing the streets in most need of repair and improves public safety and overall road conditions. 

Citizen Input 

You can check out streets in your area through a significantly improved and more user-friendly website.  Alleys need to be added. But that would show how really horrendous the Los Angeles street infrastructure has become. 

Note that proposed projects have a caveat: *Proposed Projects are subject to change based on budget allocations – too bad when the Mayor is flailing his austerity whip. 

The new StreetsLA Stakeholder Advisory Council which held its first meeting on October 12, 2019 is an effort to engage Los Angeles residents. Adding a Neighborhood Council-specific area overlay to the street repair service mapping would allow communities to improve their input to the BSS regarding the implementation of local street and sidewalk repairs. 

Street Vending 

The illegal use of streets and sidewalks for street vending continues to be a problem in many neighborhoods. The key to implementation is appropriate and effective enforcement. Appropriate being key. 

Street vending is a divisive topic in the confluence of communities’ historic image, health concerns, litter, livelihoods and competition for customers. Not to mention the very real danger to pedestrians from equipment and patrons blocking passageways, flying oil and pollution. 

The relevant legislation needs to be reviewed annually with a focus on seeking creative solutions sought to ensure that the interests of all Angelenos are addressed in the ebb and flow of the City’s evolution. 

Homelessness 

Last December, BSS requested funding for public toilets to be built around transit hubs to help protect public health and safety from street waste. In the onslaught of the pandemic, toilet facilities have appeared citywide in homeless encampments. 

With the decrease in projected City income and the increase in expenses, it is unlikely that Los Angeles will resolve its homelessness crisis any time soon. 

Therefore, in the interest of public health, it’s important for the departments to work together to continue to provide and service toilets and washing amenities wherever they are needed, not just where the City would like to conceal them. 

As We Move Forward 

The new BSS leadership has indicated an improved concern not only for the environment, global warming reduction and recycling/sustainability efforts but also cross-department cooperation, both of which will benefit the long-term economic health of the City. 

This includes: 

• partnering with the Department of Transportation on diamond grinding, a pavement preservative technique which extends lifespan and improves safety 

• supporting small area street and sidewalk repair projects, anchor location repair, and other innovative ways to improve public safety 

• recycling 100,000 waste tires a year into a rubberized slurry seal 

• adding plastic bottles to the asphalt stream 

• using Recreation and Parks software for street tree work management system 

• supporting urban forest initiatives 

• reducing street sweeping to every two weeks to increase coverage 

• expanding its interactive work and performance dashboard 

However, a recent report from the City’s Administrative Officer reveals that street infrastructure needs substantially surpass currently available resources. And as a result of too much kicking the can down the road, the backlog of needed street repairs is estimated to exceed $3 billion. 

Innovation arises not only from those with technical expertise but also from the observations and suggestions of those immersed in the problem. 

Continued stakeholder involvement is key to saving money and improving outcomes through publicly available data allowing meaningful independent financial and performance oversight. 

The City must maintain funding for such participation and the incorporation of new technologies in the effort to improve basic services and save money. 

Unfortunately, the Mayor’s curtailment of all but essential expenditures could imperil or delay these initiatives. 

Hopefully, the BSS will use its new-found ingenuity to persevere and find ways to stretch its slashed funding to not only cover existing service obligations but to continue proactive innovation for a better future for the streets of LA.

(The Budget Advocates are an elected, all volunteer, independent advisory body charged with making constructive recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding the Budget, and to City Departments on ways to improve their operations, and with obtaining input, updating and educating all Angelenos on the City’s fiscal management.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.