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Ivan Hernandez
Melisa Malvin
English 115
4 December 2015
The Walking Parade of Los Angeles
The majority of participants reported walking, biking, and bus/rail transportation
investments as being important; walking infrastructure was seen as the most important of the
three (reported by 85% of people as very important and 13% as somewhat important) (Gase,
Barragan, Simon, Jackson, and Kuo 15). The results from the article "Public Awareness of and
Support for Infrastructure Changes Designed to Increase Walking and Biking in Los Angeles
County" highlights the fact that many people in the community actually want a public project to
improve the chances and reasons to walk or bike in Los Angeles. Thus why I have a plan for an
improved public space, which is currently being proposed to City Hall. There has to be
improvements made towards the overpass above the 110 freeway, this is known as Wilshire Blvd.
This is an important issue that should be resolved as Wilshire Blvd and 7th Street are the only
overpasses that allow pedestrians to travel to and from West City and the Financial District of
Los Angeles, these are very important as they connect two different parts of Los Angeles
together. The benefits for this project are that it will encourage citizens of Los Angeles to walk
around the city of Los Angeles rather than driving in a car to get across the city of Los Angeles,
will create an improved image of Los Angeles, and it will provide a more secure setting for Los
Angeles citizens when they are crossing the Wilshire Blvd overpass.

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The public space project that is currently being proposed is titles the The Walk Parade
and will be encouraging more and more citizens of Los Angeles to walk to their desired
destinations, rather than taking their cars to reach another part of the city. It is very important to
keep this in mind that West City can be considered as a residential district of Los Angeles where
many people have bought housing. The proposed plan entails raising up the height of the railings
on the overpass, as the current railing stands at about the height of three feet tall, for those
pedestrians who may have a fear of heights or who stand taller than the current railing height.
The other main problem that needs to be corrected as well is the problem considering that the
overpass is very dull and barren to the common eyes of Los Angeles citizens, which is why the
plan proposes to give the overpass a splash of life and color. This will be done by putting down a
set of planters with flowers and/ or shrubbery that will be spaced apart equally, while also
placing down banners and/ or pieces of art along the sides of the railing or hanging down from
the lamp posts that trail along the overpass. These pieces of art can be voted on or can be original
works submitted by artists so that they can have their voice heard about their truths and
struggles. The sculpture that I had seen during my visit of the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art was created by Chris Burden and was titled Metropolis II, and is what created the backbone
and inspiration for this project. As it is a sculpture modeled after a fast paced modern city, with
cars and trains racing through a modelled city. In approving the Walk Parade we can prevent
this type of possible future from occurring, as it will create a more appealing means of traversing
Los Angeles.
The Walk Parade project will be encouraging more citizens to walk or bike to their
desired location rather than take their car to get to a specified part of the city, thus decreasing the
negative effects of having a large amount of people driving in a city. In Ervins scholarly article

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"Energy Reduction in Los Angeles, they bring up the main problem of so many drivers in Los
Angeles in their article when they state that without a radical change in the way citizens of Los
Angeles consume transportation energy, current traffic congestion, visible smog, environmental
degradation, and resource depletion will only increase (1). It is very important to keep this in
mind when viewing this proposed plan, as the project will help protect the health of the
community and will be helping the environment survive. As project Walk Parade will be that
radical change that will tempt drivers to travel by foot more often by giving them the more
visibly appealing option of walking, leading to the decrease in fossil fuel consumption, smog
creation, and the amount of traffic congestion found in the streets of Los Angeles. While from
Woo, Boarnet, Joh, and Chakrabartis findings located in "The Walking Renaissance: A
Longitudinal Analysis of Walking Travel in the Greater Los Angeles Area, USA." states that
these findings illustrate how regional planning efforts to pursue a coordinated land use-transit
planning strategy can help promote walking in auto-oriented or vehicle adopting cities (1). This
is important to think about while deciding on approving the Walk Parade project, as by doing
so will have a larger effect on the Los Angeless car population towards the idea of not driving.
The influences span from lessening the amount of traffic located in the Los Angeles streets and
by increasing the possibility of finding an un-occupied parking space. Which in turn will
decrease the amount of road age and anger generated while driving through the congested streets
of Los Angeles to find a single space to park in, without having to go and pay an obscured
amount of money to park in a private parking lot. Other than creating influences to walk and
promoting less driving, this project will also be creating a new and more attractive image of Los
Angeles for the citizens and the tourists of Los Angeles.

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The project that is being proposed will also create a more colorful and new image for
many people that currently live in Los Angeles or who visit the city. The main reason for this is
that it will simply lighten up the bland and simple sidewalk scene on the overpass by decorating
it with various plants, benches, and pieces of art that will bring life and color to this kind of
scene. In Woo, Boarnet, Joh, and Chakrabartis article "The Walking Renaissance: A
Longitudinal Analysis of Walking Travel in the Greater Los Angeles Area, USA" they have
found that the increase in walking trips in suburban RSAs in particular could be attributed to a
variety of reasons, such as increased residential and commercial densities and improvements to
the pedestrian environment (7). As its important to notice as the simple and bland sidewalk
image can be seen in various other parts of Los Angeles, where is not exactly necessary to pass
through. Thus why part of the project will be focused on the aesthetics improvements that will be
made on the overpass. Another point that should be noted is that this project will make Los
Angeles appear more aesthetically pleasing to the outside communities and cities, due to the
increased amount of citizens walking from different parts of Los Angeles. Decreasing the
preconceived image of lazy Los Angeles citizens that drive everywhere in their cars, and there is
the possibility that other cities may even consider adopting this project for their own cities.
Furthermore it should be said that the project will also be creating more a more secure and safer
setting for the citizens who take the overpass.
The reasoning for the raised railing is to make the pedestrians feel safer while crossing,
and not feel like they are walking on a thin line between a large drop and a load of cars that are
zooming past. This is important as pedestrians wouldnt want to risk their lives every time they
crossed a bridge or overpass to get to another part of the city. Due to the fact that many adults are
over the height of the current railing that only exists on the edge of the overpass. The current

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height is only helpful for young children that still havent grown in height, as adults could trip or
be pushed aside on accident over the edge of the overpass. There will also be a new railing
installed in between the road and the sidewalk, as there needs to be more safety for the
pedestrians, as seen on other bridges. This new railing will also serve as a sort of guard to protect
passing by pedestrians if a car swerves off the road and into the sidewalk, or if a car accidentally
occurs. This is important as no one should question whether or not they would be safer in a car or
walking on a sidewalk.
However some may believe that the previous listed issues can be solve by simply
increasing the number of stops or the amount of public transportation vehicles, they are wrong in
believing so. This is proven in Ervins scholarly article "Energy Reduction in Los Angeles, the
author points out that additional bus and rail lines, extended hours, and increased service
frequency by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and other
regional transit operators largely explain the increase in transit stop density (5). It shows that by
increasing the number of busses and trains will be simply inefficient due to the number of stops
increasing, the time to reach destination will be extended, and the cost to actually create more
tracks and to fuel the new busses.
To conclude, the Wilshire Blvd overpass improvements encourages citizens of walk more
often, will create an artistic and aesthetically appealing scene, and creates a more secure feeling
when crossing. It will encourage walking as it will be economically efficient and
environmentally friendly. This will create a more visually appealing image of the overpass over
the 110 freeway that will entice more people to walk through the overpass. And will provide
pedestrians a safer and more secure environment and sense when crossing the 110 overpass with
raised railings. In the end Los Angeles has to accept project Walk Parade in order for a visually

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appealing and cleaner future Los Angeles that will be home to the future generations of Los
Angeles.
Works Cited
Ervin, Nikki. "Energy Reduction in Los Angeles." Synthesis/Regeneration, 44 (2007): 13.
GALE. Web. 29 Oct 2015.
Gase, Lauren N, Noel C Barragan, Paul A Simon, Richard J Jackson, and Tony Kuo. "Public
Awareness of and Support for Infrastructure Changes Designed to Increase
Walking and Biking in Los Angeles County." Preventive Medicine, 72 (2015): 70-75.
ScienceDirect.

Web. 28 Oct 2015.

Joh, K, S Chakrabarti, MG Boarnet, and A Woo. "The Walking Renaissance: A Longitudinal

Analysis of Walking Travel in the Greater Los Angeles Area, USA."
Sustainability, 7.7

(2015): 8985-9011. MDPI. Web. 28 Oct 2015.

Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992 on the Road: A Search for American
Character. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print. 28 Oct 2015.

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Dear Melisa Malvin,

My writing process this paper was more fluid and easier to come up with, as this
was more of a topic and prompt that I understood and had background information. I had the
help of the prospectus and auto-ethnography in how to set up my essay and what to write about.
As I wrote in my essay, I took inspiration from Chris Burden's sculpture Metropolis II when I
had my visit to LACMA to do my auto-ethnography. This was my focus as it really stood out to
me how it really mirrored various aspects of LA, along the sides of tall buildings and nonstop
vehicles. My strength on this essay was the examination and understanding of the need for
change as the side effects of so much driving in a city is bad on the environment and health of
the people. For my weakness in this essay for me I believe was the finding of sources for the
other parts of my essay on aesthetics and safely for the citizens of Los Angeles, as there werent
many scholarly article about ascetics and safety on aspects of a city.

Sincerely,

Ivan Hernandez