Street safety protesters stage “die-in” outside Los Angeles City Hall
Nearly 100 demonstrators gathered for a "die-in" outside Los Angeles City Hall to protest the proposed budget cuts to the Department of Transportation.
By Lauren Pozen
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LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Nearly 100 demonstrators gathered for a “die-in” outside Los Angeles City Hall to protest the proposed budget cuts to the Department of Transportation.
“You can ask pretty much any Angeleno who is walking across the road and they know just by walking across the road, they are taking their lives into their own hands,” said Damian Kevitt from the group Streets Are For Everyone.
The proposed cuts include slashing over $7 million in expenses and nearly 24% of DOT’s workforce to close the city’s $1 billion budget gap. The cuts could impact everything from parking enforcement to traffic and safety improvements.
“Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities with traffic fatalities every day,” protester Lili Trujillo said.
Activists symbolically laid on the front steps of City Hall before marching to DOT’s headquarters. They called their demonstration a funeral procession that represents the hundreds more they believe will be at risk from the proposed budget cuts.
Trujillo’s 16-year-old daughter was killed in 2013 when the driver giving her a ride decided to race. She fears the cuts will make Los Angeles worse, even though the city already leads the nation in car-versus-pedestrian deaths and injuries per capita.
“Do we really want more memorials on our streets? Do we want the streets of LA to be full and look like a cemetery one of these days? Trujillo said.
Mayor Karen Bass’ office said they care about safe streets and hope cuts wont be as drastic as proposed.
“Layoffs are a decision of last resort, and the Mayor is working every day to reduce the total number of eliminated positions,” her office wrote.
Activists said they understood the necessity behind the cuts, but believe the mayor needs to take a second look at what she’s proposing.
“You can do it in a way that is fiscally responsible and is preserving life, preserving programs that would actually save lives,” Kevitt said.
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