Road safety advocates hold die-in protest over proposed cuts to LADOT
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Could Mayor Karen Bass' proposed budget cost lives? A group of concerned residents say "yes," and believes it could have a major impact on public safety.
"This budget will result in bloodshed," said Damian Kevitt, the executive director for the nonprofit Streets Are For Everyone. "It will result in more people dying on the roads of Los Angeles."
Kevitt along with dozens of others held a die-in protest Wednesday outside city hall. A large white truck representing the mayor's proposed budget symbolically "ran over" pedestrians and cyclists.
The group believes the budget would slash the Department of Transportation in ways that will do irreversible damage.
"L.A. is already one of the deadliest cities in the U.S.," said Kevitt. "It already has more traffic fatalities than homicides. It already has the third year in a row over 300 fatalities, more than double 10 years ago."
The mayor's proposed budget calls for a quarter of the LADOT's workforce to be eliminated, and the department budget would be cut by $7 million. Much of that money is dedicated to street safety.
"I told people at city hall on Monday that if we don't get a budget that is reflective of the values of pedestrians and cyclists, then we will shut the city down," said Los Angeles Walks Board Chair Jose Richard Aviles.
Meanwhile, LADOT's general manager has reportedly already sent a memo to the city council, saying cuts to the department will threaten the safety of the city.
Last year, however, the number of traffic deaths in L.A. decreased, but there were still more than 300. It was the second year in a row that the number of traffic deaths outpaced the number of homicides.
The mayor's budget comes amid the city's $1 billion deficit.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County is going through similar financial struggles as they face a labor standoff with the 55,000 members of Service Employees International Union Local 721, which includes public works employees, public and mental health professionals, social workers and parks and recreation personnel.
The county says it's facing "unprecedented stresses" on its budget, including a tentative $4 billion settlement of thousands of childhood sexual assault claims, a projected $2 billion in impacts related to the L.A. wildfires in January, and the potential loss of hundreds of millions in federal funding.
This is all playing out ahead of the World Cup in L.A. next year and the 2028 Summer Olympics. To those demonstrating, it's not an excuse.
"I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be cuts. We have to be fiscally responsible, but we can do it in such a way that we can preserve human life, or we can do it in such a way that we know will result in more fatalities," said Kevitt.
