Voters on track to pass Measure HLA to tweak City of LA's Mobility Plan
Measure HLA, an initiative aimed at making Los Angeles' congested streets safer appears to be headed for victory Wednesday, with "yes" votes from more than 60% of Tuesday's voters.
Measure HLA aims to tweak the city's existing Mobility Plan, forcing city officials to abide by the 2015 initiative as a mandate rather than a guide. The plan requires the city to install modifications such as wider sidewalks and dedicated bicycle and bus lanes when implementing street improvements that are at least an eighth of a mile in size.
Its opponents believe it will only increase traffic and delay first responders.
The initiative will cost the city over $2.5 billion over 10 years, according to the Matthew Szabo, the city's administrative officer.
The Healthy Streets LA ballot measure, also known as Measure HLA, received "yes" votes from 65.16% of early returns, compared to 34.84% "no."
The early-voting results comprise of vote-by-mail ballots that arrived before election day, as well as ballots cast at vote centers before Tuesday.
After Tuesday night, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will release daily updates for the next two weeks. The election results are set to be certified at the end of the month, March 29.
HLA's supporters believe it will hold officials accountable after they have only implemented 5% of its plan since 2015. In 2023, deadly crashes outpaced homicides in the city, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Supporters claimed that more than half of the collisions that resulted in death or severe injuries happened on streets without the Mobility Plan safety improvements.
"There are hundreds of miles of bus-only lanes," Michael Schneider, CEO of Streets for All an organization backing the measure, said. "There's over 500 miles of a neighborhood enhancement network which would reduce cut-through traffic on residential streets."
Opponents called HLA a misguided measure that will hamper emergency response times and increase traffic.
"They're not effective," Freddy Escobar, president of Local 112, the union representing LA firefighters, said. "It slows us down."
Critics claimed that areas where the modifications have been installed have increased response times by 50% for firefighters and police. Escobar said this is evident at Fire Station 11, where a bike lane has affected crews' response time.
Schneider said the measure will also add a center turn lane to streets like Melrose Avenue to help firefighters during gridlock.
