Los Angeles is grappling with a "Kafkaesque" process for installing and maintaining crosswalks, a problem highlighted by several recent incidents. This bureaucratic entanglement has led to long delays, public outcry, and even citizen activism.
One high-profile example involved Los Angeles Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who faced online ridicule in September 2026 for celebrating a newly painted crosswalk. Critics, including Richard Grenell and Ben Shapiro, pointed out that the project, which Raman touted as "Improving Our Neighborhood Street Infrastructure," took approximately nine months to complete and merely involved painting over cracks in the street, rather than fixing the underlying issues. The Los Feliz Neighborhood Council had initially brought the issue to her office in late 2025, and the specific costs or city departments involved were not disclosed.
Adding to the controversy, frustrated activists have taken matters into their own hands. In December 2025, Jonathan Hale, founder of People's Vision Zero, and other activists were cited by LAPD for painting crosswalks in Westwood without permission, despite their goal of improving safety and reducing pedestrian deaths. Just three days after volunteers painted a crosswalk at Stoner Park, the city of LA sent a crew to remove it. The city's stance, according to former official Diego de la Garza, is that crosswalk installations must include curb ramps and a holistic approach considering lighting, signals, and speed limits, implying that simply painting lines creates an "illusion of safety." This has led to a cycle of citizens acting out of urgency, only to have their efforts undone by city regulations.
In September 2026, Hale's group again painted a crosswalk at an intersection in South LA's Hyde Park neighborhood where 16-year-old Hernan Martinez was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Hale stated that the action was taken after the LA City Council failed to commit to adding physical infrastructure by the end of the year or declaring a city state of emergency on traffic violence. The office of Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson acknowledged the area's problems and stated they were looking into solutions, but the incident underscores the ongoing tension between community needs and the city's slow-moving processes. Critics suggest that LA's ambitious goals, such as building 28 transit projects by the 2028 Olympics or eliminating traffic fatalities by 2025, often go unexecuted due to a "flawed and bloated process," as evidenced by only four of the 28 transit projects being completed.
