Our Streets Action Committee: Advocating for Safe and Accessible Streets in Los Angeles

Happy National Bike Month and welcome back to "Urban Planning is Not Boring," the podcast that explores the fascinating world of urban planning. In this episode, we are joined by representatives from three non-profit organizations based in Los Angeles, California: Eli Kaufman from Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (BikeLA), John Yi from Los Angeles Walks, and Lena Williams, from People for Mobility. These three groups are part of a larger group called "Our Streets Action Committee."

In this interview, representatives from Los Angeles Walks, BikeLA, and People for Mobility Justice share their insights on the challenges of advocating for safe and accessible streets in Los Angeles. The guests also discuss their collaboration as part of the Our Streets Action Committee, and how they work together to advocate for better infrastructure and policies that support safe and equitable transportation options for all individuals. They share their vision for a future Los Angeles that is truly accessible to everyone, regardless of their mode of transportation.

Join us for an insightful and inspiring conversation with representatives from Los Angeles Walks, BikeLA, and People for Mobility Justice, on "Our Streets Action Committee: Advocating for Safe and Accessible Streets in Los Angeles" on Urban Planning is Not Boring. And take a look at their websites and social media for all of the events they will be hosting for National Bike Month!!

About Our Streets Action Committee: We are a coalition of community-based nonprofits committed to creating a Los Angeles where everyone can move by foot, bike, wheel, or car with dignity and safety. Through public education and grassroots mobilization, we urge Los Angeles City leaders to deliver safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation and infrastructure - our streets and sidewalks - Los Angeles deserves.

Member organizations:

Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (BikeLA): BikeLA is a membership-based nonprofit organization that works to make all communities in LA County healthy, safe, and fun places to ride a bike through advocacy, education, and outreach. BikeLA envisions a Los Angeles County that is a great place for everyday, year-round bicycling. People live in healthier, more vibrant communities, where the air is cleaner and streets are both quieter and safer for everyone. More women, families and children ride their bikes, and appreciate opportunities to enjoy their neighborhoods and their city. All people, of varying cultures and backgrounds, can ride their bikes everywhere, safely and conveniently.

Los Angeles Walks: LA Walks mission is to activate and mobilize historically disinvested communities in Los Angeles to transform their streets into safe, accessible and vibrant environments for people who walk. For us, a walkable LA is a just LA. Through grassroots organizing and knowledge sharing, communities are enabled to recognize their collective power and provided with the resources and tools necessary to transform their streets.

People for Mobility Justice: As a Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) collective, we seed critical consciousness about mobility justice across all communities. As educators, we act as bridges that connect community expertise with urban planning and policy advocacy through professional development activities with a range of audiences. As facilitators, we create safe learning environments where diverse, rooted communities can come together to build consciousness around mobility justice. As advocates, we build champions for mobility justice within transportation equity policy and planning.

South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z): The South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z) is a place-based initiative and collective impact partnership  whose mission is to revitalize South Los Angeles by moving residents to economic opportunity.

Alliance for Community Transit – Los Angeles: The Alliance for Community Transit – Los Angeles strives to create just, equitable, sustainable transit systems and neighborhoods for all people in Los Angeles, placing the interest of low-income communities and communities of color first as we create a more sustainable region.

CicLAvia: CicLAvia catalyzes vibrant public spaces, active transportation and good health through car-free streets.

Strategic Concepts in Organizing & Policy Education (SCOPE): Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) builds grassroots power to create social and economic justice for low-income, immigrant, woman, femme, black, and brown communities in Los Angeles. To do this, SCOPE organizes communities, develops leaders, collaborates through strategic alliances, builds capacity through training programs, and educates South L.A.’s residents to have an active role in shaping policies that affect the quality of life in our region. Justice, respect, responsibility, integrity, and voice: These are our core values.

Tamika L Butler Consulting: tlb provides consulting, training, and public speaking for a wide range of organizations in the public and private sectors. Using tlb’s diverse background in law, community organizing, & nonprofit leadership to shine light on inequality, inequity, & social justice.

Re:Ciclos: A non-profit project of CRSP dedicated to creating wider access to cargo bicycle technology and empowerment of youth in black and brown communities by exposure to fabrication, mechanics, advocacy, outreach, and community. We build cargo bicycles with youth interns in order to provide this practical liberating technology to people in community and community organizations.

YDO Consulting + Biking While Black: Yolanda Davis-Overstreet is a community-based activist and mobility justice strategist and is a graduate of the Urban Sustainability Master’s Program (USMA) at Antioch University, Los Angeles (2018). Her community service work and consulting fall in the areas of community organizing and mobility justice with a focus on pedestrian safety in communities of color. She is the founder of Ride in Living Color, a bicycling and mobility justice advocacy initiative that was started in 2011.