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The streets around Sautell’s Stoner Park are often filled with families on their way to the park, nearby daycare and nearby schools. Local resident Jonathan Hale believed the area lacked major safety features.
Hale recently took it to himself to fix what he believed the city was overlooked when he recruited neighbors who had recruited around the park for weeks with about $200 worth of paint and recruited to paint crosswalks around the park.
It’s not the first time Angelenos has adopted a problem in his own hands to try to improve street safety by drawing crosswalks at unstable intersections. Many people are unhappy with how long the city takes to respond to requests through 311 and do their job on their own. Sometimes the city removes the stripes of paint. Sometimes they move to make them permanent.
In Sawtel, Los Angeles’ Department of Transport removed the unauthorized DIY project about two months after the initial stripes were painted, prompting protest among community members.
The city added a permanent crosswalk around Stoner Park after residents’ DIY efforts were removed.
The Transportation Department said it would cross the need to comply with accessibility requirements prior to permanent installation. Then last week, the mayor’s office announced that, after all, the crosswalk would be painted before curb ramps and sidewalk improvements were made.
“Stoner Park is an important community anchor. It’s a place where neighbors come together, kids play, and local events bring people together. When we talk about where LA came together, it’s a place like Stoner Park.” “That’s why it’s so important to prioritize pedestrian safety and ensure that everyone can safely avoid it.”
City officials did not answer questions about whether the actions ignored state and federal guidelines. And while the Transportation Department said no previous crosswalk requests had been made at a location near Stoner Park, the mayor’s office said the Engineering Department “received multiple sidewalk accessibility requests surrounding Stoner Park between 2017 and 2018.”
“The city improves and upgrades thousands of critical infrastructure each year,” spokesman Clara Kerger said.
City agencies often point to funding constraints as a reason for delays, but the mayor’s office did not answer questions about the total cost of the project.
“We will continue to do everything we can to keep Angelenos safe, including pedestrians and park attendees,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement about the announcement.
1. Crosswalk members will paint the crosswalk at the intersection of Koreatown fourth and New Hampshire, where Nadir Gavarete, a 9-year-old boy, was killed on Saturday, August 2, 2025. 2. 3. Member of Crosswalks Collective La Unloads Road Closure Sings. 4. Members of Crosswalks Collective La will mix paints at the crosswalk at the intersection of Koreatown’s fourth and New Hampshire.
The decision raises questions about how infrastructure updates will be prioritized by the city. This has been struggling to keep up with the backlog of road improvement requests amid ongoing road safety disorders.
“The Street Services Bureau (Streetsla) uses primarily our annual resurfacing program to determine the location of the design and installation access lamps. It is not a request-based system.”
He said the budget for this fiscal year includes the installation of around 300 access lamps across the city.
Hale, who moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles about a year ago, was surprised to learn that the crosswalk would recover after his initial efforts were erased. If the city struggled to improve the safety of its residents, he questioned the pushback to citizens’ own efforts.
“There’s no need for years of research to say there should be crosswalks and slow streets by parks, schools and daily care. These are obvious,” Hale said.
On Saturday we will cross a cross drawn by members of Crosswalk Group LA near Stoner Park in the Sawtel area.
The city’s 10-year-old Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related deaths has not come to fruition in Los Angeles. A recent audit found a significant failure in the program. Additionally, budget stocks from the city’s transportation department and the Department of Street Services could further delay street safety goals.
“We are walking around some of the most dangerous streets in the country per capita,” said Michael Schneider of all towns. “I think this is [DIY effort] It’s a response to that, not a response to local governments. ”
Schneider said the slowdown could be attributed in part to the city’s understanding of accessibility guidance, which appears to have different interpretations even among city agencies.
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Last week in Koreatown, the 9-year-old was fatally injured in a car while crossing the street on an electric scooter on 4th Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue. Concerns about the safety of that intersection have previously prompted discussions regarding the installation of roundabouts. Ladot asked for feedback from the community in 2021, but nothing has been built.
The crosswalk memorial, painted by Crosswalk Collective LA, is located on 4th Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown.
Griselda Paxtor lights a candle all night at the intersection of Koratown, where Nadir Gavarrete, a nine-year-old boy, was killed.
Crosswalk Collective LA – “We paint crosswalks. The city of Los Angeles won’t keep us safe, so we keep us safe,” the catchphrase gathered in Koreatown on Saturday morning to paint crosswalks at the intersection. The group purchased the stencils used at Stoner Park and served as inspiration for Hale, but was not involved in his efforts at Sawtel.
That night, residents gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the dead boy. One of the newly painted crosswalks at the intersection was not buried. Instead, there was an inscription in the center.
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