After the city repainted crosswalks at Stoner Park, Hale met with the mayor’s office to present a set of policy recommendations, including decriminalizing vigilante crosswalks. The city is facing a budget crisis and a backlog of broken sidewalks and missing curb ramps.
City staff were appreciative of his advocacy but also “a little condescending,” he says. When Hale quotes city staff, his already deep voice drops even lower.
“It was very much like, ‘Oh, thank you for your advocacy. But you know, you’re young and idealistic, and you need to understand that […] these rules exist for a reason.”
One issue: The intersections that People’s Vision Zero painted at Stoner Park are not up to current ADA requirements, in part because there are no sidewalks on some sections of the street. According to federal guidelines, every time a city alters the street through repaving or reconstruction, it must add curb ramps. It’s unclear if a citizen-painted crosswalk would trigger these requirements.
Bringing an intersection up to current standards can be costly — a single curb ramp costs the City of Los Angeles $50,000 to $100,000. However, to advocates impatient for change, citing accessibility requirements is just one more excuse to delay simple improvements that could prevent people from dying while crossing the street.
Following the rules can take millions of dollars and, in the case of the safety improvements at the intersection where Nadir Gavarrete was hit and killed, over a decade to implement.
Take the traffic circle at 4th and New Hampshire, first proposed in 2011. According to public records obtained by Next City, the project was funded in 2015 but saw no progress for about five years. The design phase took roughly four years under the Bureau of Engineering and was finished at the beginning of 2025. Construction is slated to begin next year.
In a statement to Next City, Mayor Bass’s office came out as pro-crosswalk.
“While the City continues to install crosswalks that comply with federal, state, and local regulations, the Mayor’s Office is working with City departments to explore solutions that are innovative and will expedite crosswalk installations across Los Angeles.”
On Nov. 8, People’s Vision Zero painted crosswalks at an intersection in the Palms neighborhood where a driver hit a pedestrian in 2017.
About 20 people showed up — the biggest group yet.
“I first heard about this on a Reddit post,” says Luis Fernando Anguiano Quiroz, an urban designer and planning grad student at UCLA. “This is my neighborhood, so I wanted to build community and get to know my neighbors.”
Carl, who has lived on the corner for 30 years and declined to share his last name, was initially skeptical when he saw people painting the street. He was worried the city would simply undo the work. But after talking to Hale, he’s on board.
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“The city needs help, and if they’re doing a proper job, and a city inspector comes out and says it’s 98 percent right — leave it alone.”
The mood and the weather are bright. People take turns rolling out the paint and pulling up the tape, which is the most satisfying part of the process. Waiting for the paint to dry, they chat and riff about their favorite TV shows.
This is the 10th intersection that People’s Vision Zero has painted, and it won’t be the last. What happened at Stoner Park only made Hale more determined to keep going.
“It’s awesome. It feels so good. I love my neighbors. It was so touching to see the news, and to see my neighbors interviewed on the news, just saying that they appreciate it […] I did it for them” Hale says.
Scrolling photos courtesy of Maylin Tu.