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Los Angeles Downtown News has an article about how the planning commission might adopt new standards to mandate wider (15 feet v. 10 feet) sidewalks downtown.

“Observers say it signals a push by the Planning Department not only to promote the pedestrian-friendly vision extolled by Planning Director Gail Goldberg, but to proactively affect development – and to remain relevant in the city’s pursuit of smart growth.

Goldberg has repeatedly called for her department to consider projects with pedestrians, not automobiles, in mind. The move to establish new guidelines also represents a milestone for the Department’s Urban Design Studio, launched late last year and charged with turning many of the talking points into action.”

Wider sidewalks allow for restaurant tables and chairs, as well as trees and pedestrians to co-exist. Probably the greatest obstacle to the transformation of downtown Los Angeles is its “Blade Runner” environment of blank marble walls, tunnels, overhead bridges, and moonscape freeways that were rammed through in the 1950s and 60s. The Reagan Era added homeless human beings to the toxic and inhumane mix.

Not only downtown, but throughout Los Angeles, the city should narrow the boulevards and widen the walkways. Plant trees and make the human heart & lungs, not the carburetor, our number one priority.