First Ever Symposium on Street Racing and Street Takeovers
For some Southern California communities, street racing, street takeovers, and individuals doing donuts and burnouts are regular annoyances. For some communities, it’s resulted in people killed or severely injured. Over the years, Streets Are For Everyone has been working to address this on many fronts – working with victims, advocates, and electeds to change laws, improve infrastructure, educate, and enforce the law. For the last ten months, SAFE has also been working with Supervisor Holly Mitchell's office, Street Racing Kills, and other LA County departments to put together a community conference to look at strategies to help end illegal street racing and street takeovers.
On May 18, 2024, community leaders, law enforcement officials, and concerned citizens gathered for the first conference to address the growing issue of illegal street racing and street takeovers. Hosted at the Compton Community College, the "Ending Illegal Street Racing and Street Takeovers: A Community Symposium" event proved to be a comprehensive forum for discussing strategies to curb these dangerous activities that have increasingly threatened public safety.
The conference was a collaborative effort to foster dialogue and develop actionable plans to combat the surge in illegal street racing. This dangerous phenomenon not only endangers participants but also poses significant risks to bystanders, disrupts community peace, and strains police resources. The event provided a holistic view of the problem and proposed multifaceted solutions involving enforcement, education, diversion, and community engagement.
Keynote Addresses and Panels
The agenda for the symposium was meticulously crafted to cover various aspects of the issue. The morning session began with a keynote address by LA County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, who highlighted the importance of looking for new strategies to address these illegal activities.
This was followed by a frank discussion on the impacts of street racing on the community by Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the LA County Department of Public Health, and Cindi Enamorado, who lost her brother, Raymond, due to a street takeover in 2023.
The rest of the day included panels, each focusing on specific strategies to address the problem:
Session 1: Preventing Youth Incarcerations: Redirecting Racers — This panel included Street Racing Kills, representatives from the LA County Public Defender, the LA County District Attorney, and the LA County Youth Development Department. The discussion centered around various strategies to provide education and diversion programs to discourage individuals from continuing to do illegal street racing and street takeovers.
Session 2: The Role of the “Law” in Illegal Street Activity — Speakers included Asm. Mike Gipson, the Mayor of Compton, LAPD Deputy Chief Donald Graham, and an LA County Sheriff’s Dept Street Racing Task Force representative. This was a lively conversation about what law enforcement is finding, the challenges with enforcing it, and the difficulty of creating new laws to protect community members from street racers and street takeovers.
Session 3: Using Public Infrastructure to Redesign Our Streets — Traffic engineers from the LA Department of Transportation, LA County Public Works, and Compton Public Works Department detailed their efforts to use infrastructure to deter illegal street racing and street takeovers.
Session 4: Identifying and Operating Legal Tracks for Racing — This was possibly the most interesting panel of the day. Panel members included representatives from Project Street Legal, an association of car enthusiasts working to set up legal drag strips and burn boxes in urban environments as an outlet for those who love driving fast and showing off their cars. Also present was Andy Marocco, the founder of Street Legal Dragway, a legal racing location in Perris, CA, that provides space for car enthusiasts to flex their automobile horsepower.
Community Engagement and Feedback
Those attending were encouraged to ask questions and participate in small breakout sessions, during which the strategies featured in the panels could be further discussed.
The discussion topics and community feedback were carefully captured and are being digested as part of a report of suggested strategies. This report will be presented to the LA County Board of Supervisors and will help influence future efforts to address this problem.
In summary, "Ending Illegal Street Racing and Street Takeovers: A Community Symposium" was more than just a meeting—it was a pivotal moment for collective action. By bringing together diverse perspectives and fostering collaborative strategies, the event aimed to inform and craft a better, safer, and more holistic approach to ending illegal street racing and street takeovers.