Today, I got arrested for painting a crosswalk

As some of you might know, I started a group called People's Vision Zero. We paint crosswalks at corners where pedestrians have been injured or killed to protest for safer streets and better government. Today, I finally got arrested. Apologies in advance for the jumbled thoughts and writing.

I organized a group of volunteers to paint a crosswalk at the corner of Kelton and Wilkins in Westwood. This was our thirteenth corner as a crew. A pedestrian was injured crossing the street at the adjacent corner, Wilkins and Midvale, in 2020. I filed a 311 request for crosswalks on October 7 (reference no. 01657532). 

When I went to survey the corner, there were potholes that would have made painting unfeasible, so I planned to paint the adjacent corner instead. I communicated this to several officials in the mayor’s office on December 1. Throughout the week, I’d been talking to neighbors and handing out flyers by the corner. I posted signs making it very clear that we were unpermitted, not city workers, and acting in protest of bureaucratic incompetence.

After we’d painted two crosswalk legs and were working on a third, a police cruiser pulled up. They told us to stop, put me in handcuffs, and gave me a citation for vandalism. Since one crosswalk was unfinished, it looks like crap. I’m guessing the city will send a crew out to erase it in the coming days. A second cruiser pulled up, four cops in total. I have court on January 5th at 8:30 AM at the airport courthouse, 11701 South La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles 90045.

It's worth noting that the police have come other times we've been painting, and left when we've explained honestly what we're doing and why. They're also fed up and they have better things to do.

Some context: back in August, we painted crosswalks at the corner of 4th and New Hampshire, where a 9-year-old boy named Nadir Gavarrete was killed because of the city’s utter incompetence. The mayor’s office reached out to meet with me to discuss ways we could prioritize safer streets. Going into the meeting on September 18, I was optimistic. But I was disappointed when officials from the mayor’s office and LADOT told me in effect that while they appreciated my advocacy, I was too uninformed and idealistic to understand that change was impossible.

On September 19th, the day after the meeting, I sent a follow-up email requesting an official statement either “decriminalizing” crosswalks or publicly condemning our actions. I pitched the idea as an opportunity to substantively address the conditions that make our streets so dangerous, while also boosting a culture of civic engagement.

I received no response, so I followed up on October 7th making it clear that we would be identifying corners where pedestrians had been injured or killed, requesting crosswalks at the corner through 311, then painting them after a set period of time. I emphasized that our goal was “to continue working together to make our streets safer”, and pressed again for a public response to the situation. 

On October 10th, the mayor’s office responded:

While we share your goals, all roadway markings, including crosswalks, must comply with local, state, and federal standards to ensure consistency and minimize risk. Unfortunately, unauthorized markings can violate California Vehicle Code Section 21465, so all changes must go through the City’s formal review and approval process.

Though we can’t approve of or endorse unsanctioned roadway alterations, we welcome collaboration to advance safety initiatives. That said, we’d love to keep working together and will arrange a working session with City staff to review your findings and discuss key intersections. Additionally, we will explore ways to formalize a community partnership program focused on Vision Zero and neighborhood traffic safety.

Your dedication is invaluable, and we’d like to channel it into a model other neighborhoods can follow.

I responded immediately with the following statement:

We would be happy if you demonstrated that you’re committed to Vision Zero by continuing to meet with us in good faith to implement reasonable reforms and policies to make our streets safer.

This might include "decriminalizing" DIY crosswalk painting by instructing LADOT not to prioritize removal of citizen crosswalks done according to a certain standard. We’d be happy to work with the city to implement a tactical urbanism program akin to pilots in other cities.

But it doesn't have to be any one thing. At the very least, we would like to see some sort of inertia. The point of protesting to begin with is to express our frustration at the city’s utter lack of willpower to challenge the entrenched systems that make everything difficult, even as children die on our streets.

I want to make it abundantly clear that the goal of this protest isn’t to undermine institutions like LADOT – it’s to make them stronger. I think many good and earnest people who work in government are themselves frustrated at the system they are a part of.

Alternatively, if the city is committed to standing by rules, norms, and procedures that make even basic improvements impossible, you are more than welcome to remove the crosswalks that we’ve painted and cite or arrest me for what I’m doing.

The mayor’s office has ignored me since then. I’ve continued to email them in advance to let them know when and where we’ll be painting, and why. I’ve included pictures of the crosswalks we’ve painted in our emails.

Whereas the mayor’s office has been uncommunicative, CD10’s office has been pleasantly responsive. We worked with them to bring official crosswalks and a traffic circle to the corner of 4th and New Hampshire, and we’re hoping to get a full roundabout with a memorial for Nadir installed by the end of 2026.

Anyway. That’s where we’re at now. Let me know if you have any questions. I’m working on a report summarizing all the legal mumbo jumbo and the narrative of how this whole thing to came to be, hopefully for release next week. Thank you all for your support. This city was not built by people who looked at the way things are and said “this is good enough”. Change happens block to block, day by day. See you guys in the streets!