Late yesterday, Joe Linton submitted a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles alleging that the city's refusal to follow Measure HLA - the Healthy Streets Los Angeles law passed by voters last year - perpetuates unsafe conditions on Vermont Avenue. Linton is asking the city to implement the designs for Vermont Avenue that were approved in the city's Mobility Plan, now mandated by Measure HLA law.
The lawsuit document is here. Linton explains his decision to file suit:
Before becoming an editor of Streetsblog L.A. in 2014, I had already been advocating for multimodal streets since the 1990s. In 1998, I was one of the founders of BikeLA. I helped organize the first CicLAvia in 2010. Since 2014, I have poured my advocacy energies into Streetsblog L.A.'s advocacy journalism.
I live very close to Vermont Avenue, where my family and I walk, bike, and/or take transit nearly every day. Since 2014, I have attended meetings focused on Vermont transit improvements, where I and many other advocates have pressed for complete streets, including bike lanes that have long been part of the city's plans for Vermont. I was, and still am, excited that L.A. City voters approved Measure HLA, which requires the city to gradually implement its plan for a more transit-friendly, more walkable, and more bikeable Vermont.
In researching my Streetsblog coverage of Measure HLA and the Vermont Transit Corridor project, I became frustrated encountering repeated instances where the city continues to ignore its own plans for a safe and truly multimodal Vermont.
In speaking with other mobility advocates about the city ignoring safety plans, I decided to sue the city. I am not seeking any personal fiscal gain from the suit - other than recouping legal fees. It is my hope that this lawsuit will bring the city to the negotiating table and will result in street improvements that save lives, foster public health, stem climate-harming emissions, and improve the quality of life for Vermont Avenue's pedestrians, bus riders, and bicyclists.
The California Streets Initiative (CSI) is the non-profit that publishes Streetsblog in California. I'm not just the editor of Streetsblog California and a podcast host, I'm also the executive director. CSI's policy has always been to not tell employees what they can or can’t do in their personal time or on their personal social media. SBLA staff have been involved in public records litigation in the past in their official capacity, but nothing like this in any of our personal lives. It's certainly unusual for a reporter or editor to be involved in a lawsuit as a plaintiff related to an issue he or she covers, it is not against any of our policies for Linton to be involved as a plaintiff in this suit.
Linton is represented by lawyers Mike Gatto and Jonathan Weiss. Gatto is a former state Assemblymember. Weiss was a longtime member of the city's Bicycle Advisory Committee. Weiss is also a member of the CSI Board of Directors.
However, on behalf of CSI, I want to be clear that Linton is doing this on his own as a Los Angeles resident who lives adjacent to the Vermont Corridor and long-time bicycle and pedestrian activist, and Weiss as an independent attorney.
I'm aware that this creates the appearance of conflicts when it comes to our coverage of certain issues. To be clear, we’re going to be shuffling the deck a little on coverage plans so that Linton is not covering the implementation of Measure HLA or Vermont Transit Corridor issues until this lawsuit has concluded, other than the possibility of a very occasional opinion piece. Either myself or someone else will be covering these issues, including the lawsuit.
(And a logistical note: Linton is about to leave for a planned Spring Break vacation, and will be away all of next week.)
