[The following final update was written by the organization and then sent to us for further sharing.]

Launched in 2019, our Venice Blvd For All initiative aims to make Venice Blvd. a complete street from the ocean to Downtown LA. Venice Boulevard is 13 miles long and is the only street fully within the City of Los Angeles that goes from the ocean to DTLA. From 2012-2022, 1,205 collisions occurred on the street and 58 people were killed or seriously injured. The street is more than 2x as wide as other major arterials; it has the capacity to accommodate multiple modes of transportation, but it is currently inefficient, dangerous, and inaccessible to most transit users who choose any mode of transportation other than a car.

After years of advocacy work, we were excited when in June 2023 LADOT and Metro opened nearly four miles of dedicated 24x7 bus lanes (the first outside of downtown!) and protected bike lanes.

Last year, we were fortunate enough to be awarded a LA2050 grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation. The purpose of the grant was to fund our work to extend Venice Blvd. For All to Downtown LA.

Streets For All is proud to share our progress implementing our Venice Boulevard For All initiative, which strives to make active and public transit more efficient, reliable, safe, and accessible for all people across Los Angeles. We have been hard at work organizing and 21`advocating for the city to redesign the entirety of Venice Boulevard as a complete street - with dedicated bus lanes, better pedestrian infrastructure, and protected bicycle lanes. We have attended Neighborhood Council meetings across the city, collaborated with community members, local leaders, city officials, and transportation experts to advocate for these changes which would drastically improve the lives of thousands of Angelenos.

Since October 2023, we have accomplished the following:

- Worked with Council District 10 to get a motion introduced and passed by City Council asking the City to extend Venice Blvd For All to Arlington

- Which led to the city applying for $20,000,000 in grant funding to extend the project:

- Complementing our existing support, we got the Pico Union Neighborhood Council to pass a letter of support for extending the bus and bike lanes to DTLA

- Got the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council, the Downtown LA BID and Fashion District BID to pass letters of support for extending the bus and bike lanes through DTLA - Worked with Metro to advance their “Next Gen” bus plan for Venice Blvd, including implementation next year of bus lanes to Arlington in 2025 (with further Eastward extension coming soon)

- On February 10th, 2024, we hosted a community bicycle ride in Mar Vista where over 60 attendees were able to ask questions, express community concerns, and gather together to learn more about our Venice Blvd. For All advocacy.

- Came up with a plan approved by Metro and LADOT to get both bike and bus corridors to DTLA, taking into account Metro’s needs (bus), cyclists needs for safety, and the fact that Venice Bl narrows significantly at Arlington (link to zoomable map):

We are currently working with the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council and expect to receive a letter of support shortly, after which we will work with CD10 and CD1 to introduce a motion in directing LADOT to work with Metro and others to implement our plan as illustrated above.

While the extension of Venice Blvd For All is not yet in the ground, our LA2050 grant gave us the resources to be able to secure the needed missing political support, and put into motion a specific plan that could be achieved by the Olympics. We were also able to get the support of

and engage the missing neighborhood councils along the route, as well as the relevant community organizations and business improvement districts, relationships that we did not have previously.

Extending Venice Blvd For All to Downtown LA is now a priority within the City of Los Angeles and at Metro, and we believe it can be fully implemented by the summer of 2028. We will continue to advocate for implementation at the earliest possible opportunity; it will be greatly accelerated if the City of Los Angeles wins the $20M grant it applied for.