The future of

Los Angeles of the city

streets is decided as

Angelenos voters

cast their vote

S

Tuesday about Meet HLA.

The citizen-sponsored ballot initiative

That

The goal is to force Los Angeles to build hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes to make its streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

was xxxx at the polls in early returns

If passed, it would require 238 miles of protected bike lanes

through the streets of the city

and add hundreds of unprotected lanes, transforming some of the region’s most storied boulevards. Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and Soto Street on the east side, among dozens of others

street

s, would get new cycle paths. The measure would add 300 miles of improvements for buses, including bus lanes and signal priority for mass transit, advocates say.

‘There’s a lot at stake here. It is not just about this measure. It’s about something

What

“what kind of city do angelenos want to live in,” says michael schneider, who led the hla campaign and is executive director of

advocacy group

Streets for everyone

which

devised the measure.

an interest group that wants to make streets more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

The campaign has

issued

over $3 million

in the effort

, and received the support of half a dozen city council members, business groups and unions. It

had

faced little financially supported opposition for up to a month

ago before the elections

when the

Los Angeles

The city’s firefighters union stepped in to fight it.

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112

which

represents approximately 3,400 firefighters,

and has said that they have been sunk and that they have been spent

$250,000

in an attempt

to defeat the measure.

“These traffic diets slow down our response time when Los Angeles residents call 911,” said union president Freddy Escobar.

The

City Manager Matt Szabo released a report a day after firefighters spoke out against the plan

last month

warning that Measure HLA projects would cost the city $3.1 billion and force difficult budget choices in the coming years.

Szabo estimated that bike upgrades are needed

female

HLA would cost

about

$1.1 billion, while sidewalk improvements would add $2 billion.

Beyond that,

Community outreach could increase the bill by

another

According to his report, $80 million.

Schneider and supporters have done just that

said Szabo’s estimates are called the estimates

blown up.

“I really hope voters see through this stuff and recognize the reality on our streets.”

Hello Schneider

said.

Schneider said the HLA campaign is a

a lot of

other cost estimate after receiving data from the Department of Transportation and the city’s Bureau of Engineering. He estimates that the ballot measure would cost a lot of money

about

$28.6 million per year if all that is the case

the

projects are completed within ten years; However, he points out that the measure does not make this mandatory

timeline

.

Streets for All, originally Schneider’s interest group

The HLAHLA concept is based on the city’s 2015 mobility plan

which that

has yet to be fully realized.

Escobar said that the architects of

HLAthe plan

did not attempt to meet the fire brigade

while it was being developed before they helped put it on the ballot.

Under the measure, residents can sue over instances where Los Angeles fails to implement the plan. Officials would do that

So

need to add

more

transparency to the

ir

process by creating a website where residents can request information

are

progress.

But

even

as the

measurement plan

dominates, there is nothing in it

it is the benchmark

to guide how this can be implemented. Szabo said the financial pressure

it would cause

could force the city to postpone other paving projects. And some transit advocates worry the plan doesn’t take community needs into account.