Griffith Park Update and Call to Action
In April 2022, 77-year-old Andrew Jelmert was cycling on Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park, training for what would have been his fifth AIDS Lifecycle Ride, when he was hit and killed by a driver doing 80+ MPH through Griffith Park. His death underscored what park users had been saying for decades, that Griffith Park is a dangerous and high-speed cut-through for drivers, not the safe space that it should be for Angelenos.
The calls by cyclists and community members to SAFE for help after this tragedy were immediate and many. So SAFE’s team and volunteer advocates mobilized, holding vigils, press events, speaking at meetings, and working with a broader group of organizations like Streets For All, Bike LA, LA Walks, Active SGV, Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, and many more.
The demands for change were heard by Councilmember Raman and LA Recs and Parks leadership. As a result, a large stretch of Griffith Park Drive was shut down to cars and turned into a pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian path. This was a much-welcomed improvement on a road frequently used as a cut-through to the freeways.
An engineering firm was hired to create the first-ever Griffith Park Safety and Active Transportation Project. We saw the approval of 4 million dollars of funding from the State of CA to implement sections of this plan. Additionally, Councilmember Nithya Raman funded the rehabilitation of sections of the LA River Bike Path that had become hazardous to cyclists and pedestrians.
THIRD ANNIVERSARY AND STILL WE WAIT
This Griffith Park active transportation plan, the funding, and the contracts to begin the most significant safety improvement upgrade to Griffith Park in decades, possibly ever, have been ready to start since mid-2024. We have recently found out they are currently held up in bureaucratic red tape by LA Recs and Parks.
As we come up on the eve of the third anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s fatality, there is still no target date to start construction on the expected safety improvements on Crystal Springs Drive. Despite the initial push and commitment from the city to transform parts of the park and safeguard the lives of those who use it, the bureaucracy has caused safety improvements to grind to a screeching halt.
Drivers who use Griffith Park as a cut-through regularly speed at 40+ MPH when the posted limit is 25. Unfortunately, throughout Griffith Park, from Forest Lawn Drive to Zoo Drive, very little traffic calming exists, leading to continuing dangers for cyclists, pedestrians, and equestrians.
While the closure of parts of Griffith Park Drive to cars was a significant step in the right direction, without improvements to safety on Crystal Springs Drive, how can park users connect to car-free sections without risking life and limb?
RED-TAPE IS KILLING LOS ANGELES
What creates such an unacceptable delay in implementation, not only on Crystal Springs Drive, but across all of the city of LA?
Los Angeles still moves at a snail’s pace to install a quarter of a mile of protected bike lanes, to the point that Measure HLA was needed to ask the city to follow its own plans. Even then, city bureaucracies created excuses not to implement the widely supported measure.
Despite the release of LA’s Master Bicycle Plan in 2011 and LA Vision Zero in 2015, the city’s lack of progress on these plans continues to cement its top position as one of America’s most dangerous cities to be a pedestrian. LA Vision Zero, in fact, had a goal of “eliminating traffic deaths by 2025.” But this is a city where 300 or more people die in car crashes per year–more than the number of homicides.
While other cities of comparable size have made enormous strides in implementing infrastructure, Los Angeles crawls along, in spite of Mayor Karen Bass’s bold declaration that LA will be “car-free” for the 2028 Olympics.
If it takes three years to install 2 miles of bike lanes on Crystal Springs Drive, with no visible progress, we can just fast-forward from 2025 to 2028 and see what that means for all of LA City. The speed at which these improvements occur is even more troubling, given our current political climate and the uncertainty of securing federal funding for transportation projects.
Meanwhile, every 1-2 days in Los Angeles, yet another person gets hit and killed, not to mention the thousands of people who are seriously injured in traffic violence.
GRIFFITH PARK CALL TO ACTION
Please join us in demanding that Crystal Spring Drive be made safe for those who need it the most – pedestrians, cyclists, families, and kids.
Below is a form email to send to Recs and Parks. Please customize your email with your own words so it comes from YOU.
Let's make our collective voices be heard and break through the red tape and slows to making Griffith Park safer!
Or you can use the following template to cut and paste into your email:
EMAIL TEMPLATE
To: Jimmy.kim@lacity.org
cc: Stefanie.smith@lacity.org, Mehmet.berker@lacity.org
bcc: Kesper@StreetsAreForEveryone.org
Subject: Crystal Springs Dr Safety Improvements
Body:
Dear Mr. Kim,
[Personalize first section, for example: I am _____, who rides/uses/walks/bikes in Griffith Park _____[how many times per ...] - whatever is personal to you.]
As a park user, I'm concerned about when Recs and Parks plans to start construction on the needed protections on Crystal Springs Drive that were supposed to begin in Aug 2024 as part of the Griffith Park Safety and Active Transportation Project.
It's been 3 years since the tragic death of 77-year-old Andrew Jelmert and over two years since the State of CA allocated 4 million dollars for safety improvements in Griffith Park.
These changes are long overdue.
Can you clarify when you plan to start construction?
Sincerely, [your name]
Thank you for advocating for safety in Griffith Park!