The definition of insanity was defined once as doing things over and over and expecting a different result. So, it shouldn't be a surprise to hear that Mayor Yoga Pants is out and about begging for more money to fund Vision Zero, the program that's utterly failed in eliminating traffic-related deaths by 2025.
Garcetti unveiled his new proposal for Vision Zero during a press conference on Tuesday at City Hall following criticism from safety advocates that he didn't mention the program during his State of the City Address he delivered on Monday.
"To every activist, we are with you on this, we have done over a thousand Vision Zero improvements," Garcetti boasted. "One or two get all the press, because we don't always do them perfectly. We always have to look at the impact of them. But we will keep moving forward on them."
Garcetti failed to mention any specific things the proposed $91 million would buy. Last year, the city funded the Vision Zero project with $27 million - far below what the Department of Transportation said would be needed to meet the program's goal of cutting traffic-related deaths by 20 percent in 2017.
The Vision Zero program has been met with skepticism and outright hostility at times. One part of the program included a reduction in traffic lanes, in which cities go on so-called 'road diets' in their neighborhoods. Those were met with outrage and many city council members backed off from doing projects like that in their districts.
The city has cut down on traffic related fatalities, but only managing a reduction of about 6 percent in 2016, after deaths had already shot up by 40 percent in years previous.
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