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Politics Jun 20, 2023
| Photo courtesy of Toniher/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Tuesday seeking to identify a location to implement its first Park Block Pilot — modeled after the city of Barcelona’s “Superilla,” a strategy to reduce air pollution, urban noise and traffic fatalities.
In a 10-0 vote, with council members Kevin de León, Nithya Raman, Monica Rodriguez and Curren Price absent from Tuesday’s meeting, the council instructed the city’s Department of Transportation to take the necessary steps to begin a Park Block Pilot.
The DOT will also report back on the necessary funding and staffing resources to scale up the program citywide.
The motion introduced by de León seeks to replicate a “Park Blocks” program to create “instant public open space with substantial shade, outdoor recreation, greening and stormwater capture in communities desperate for parks.”
Barcelona enacted its “Superilla” or Park Block Pilot program in 2016.
The program “transforms” residential blocks by “reconfiguring vehicle circulation,” which allowed for up to 70% of the street surface area and intersections to be reclaimed as usable public space while preventing cut-through traffic but remaining accessible for necessary traffic inside the blocks, according to the motion.
“Residents inside the blocks saw an increase in civic life over the years as community members spent more time outside in their neighborhood,” the motion read. “Creation of the Superilla was cost effective — using a phased design starting with temporary installations that became permanent after public input and on site experience.”
De León’s motion noted that a successful program would need to be “thoughtfully designed and personalized” to Los Angeles.
For the initial pilot, priority areas will be chosen among communities that have the least access to public space, highest health disparities, high population densities and who want to participate in the program. The initial location would be within de León’s District 14, which includes parts of downtown, Boyle Heights, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Monterey Hills and Glassell Park.
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