The union representing Los Angeles firefighters launched a campaign against Measure HLA this week, posing the first serious threat to a ballot measure aimed at making city streets safer.

Los Angeles Unified Fire Department Local 112 plans to spend “six figures” and at least $100,000 on campaign against HLA, installing hundreds of miles of new bike lanes, bus lanes and other transportation improvements on designated thoroughfares There is a need to. Items undergoing major repairs.

Union President Freddy Escobar, who represents about 3,400 firefighters, said the move would delay emergency response times and put new pressure on the city's already stretched budget. He said he was concerned. Escobar said in an interview that fire truck operations are already being hampered by “road diet” – the reduction of vehicle lanes by creating bike and bus lanes.

“Every second counts. Road feeding slows down firefighters,” Escobar said. “And it's going to be even worse in HLA.”

HLA measurement supporter condemned the union's move, saying the ballot proposal is urgently needed to reduce the number of deaths on L.A.'s streets. Last year, 336 people died in traffic accidents, more than half of them pedestrians, and the number of deaths now exceeds the number of homicides.

“If we're really talking about public safety for everyone, we have to address this as a public health crisis,” said Eli, executive director of Move LA, a transportation advocacy group that supports HLA.・Mr. Ripmen said.

Supporters of the HLA argue that bike lanes and other improvements will slow traffic and reduce the risks experienced by pedestrians and cyclists. They also seek to refute the union's claims, saying the city's own environmental analysis found that access for emergency vehicles would remain the same or improve once the new road improvements are completed.

The union's announcement comes amid growing debate over the HLA bill, the only bill on the ballot in the March 5 municipal election. If the HLA passes, city officials will complete the list of transportation projects outlined in Mobility Plan 2035, a planning document approved by the City Council nine years ago.

City Administrator Matt Szabo, the city's top budget analyst, said several months ago that the measure could cost more than $2.5 billion over the next 10 years, averaging more than $250 million annually. I warned you.in Financial impact report Szabo said the projects mandated under the HLA measure could reduce the number of roads that are repaved each year.

Streets for All, an advocacy group, originally invented HLA. Michael Schneider, the group's founder and advocate for HLA, objected to the city's financial assessment, saying Szabo's cost estimates were vastly inflated.

Schneider said the HLA campaign arrived at widely different cost estimates after obtaining records from the city's Department of Transportation and Engineering. After reviewing documentation on sidewalk and bike lane projects, the HLA campaign concluded that the ballot measure would cost about $28.6 million annually if all projects were completed within 10 years.

“We don't think so.” [city’s] Estimates are an honest representation of costs,” he said.

Szabo stood by his numbers Tuesday, calling them “conservative estimates.”

The firefighters union has formed a committee to fight HLA, but Schneider's campaign has received backing from another union. Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel and restaurant workers, has produced campaign materials supporting the measure.

Schneider said the HLA campaign has so far been supported by six reviewers: Marquise Harris Dawson, Eunice Hernandez, Heather Hutt, Nitya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Katie Yaroslavsky. He said he also has support from lawmakers.

In an interview, Raman questioned the firefighters' union's claims. “The data shows time and time again that when you slow down the roads, you reduce the number of deaths on the roads,” she says.

The HLA law would require 200 miles of bus lanes (some operating 24 hours a day, others only during rush hours) and more than 600 miles of bike lanes. When city crews make repairs along one-eighth of a mile of a particular road, any mobility plan projects planned for that area must be incorporated into the road work.

In the San Fernando Valley, HLA is calling for bike lanes to be installed on Ventura Boulevard from Woodland Hills East to North Hollywood. Schneider said much of Ventura will also have bus lanes installed as part of the ballot measure.

On the East Side, the bill's supporters say the city should install protected bike lanes on Soto Street from Huntington Drive to Whittier Boulevard and on Whittier Boulevard beyond Boyle Heights. In Hollywood, an unprotected bike lane will be added to Santa Monica Boulevard.

The HLA camp says 24-hour or rush-hour-only bus lanes will be installed on Broadway from downtown to Imperial Highway in South Los Angeles.

Schneider accused city officials of assuming the city would do a “Rolls-Royce” version of each HLA project if cheaper alternatives were available. He pointed to HLA's plan to create 338 miles of protected bike lanes separated from car traffic.

He said city officials can accomplish that goal by building expensive concrete medians to keep cyclists away from traffic, but they can also install bollards, a cheaper alternative. .

The HLA camp's claims did not reassure everyone on the council.

Council member Tracy Park, who opposes the bill, said she was concerned that projects mandated under the HLA would reduce the city's ability to use funds for other public services, such as anti-homelessness programs. Ta.

“We believe there is a way to build a system.” [of bike lanes] It meets our mobility and sustainability goals,” she said. “But this ballot appropriation unfortunately strips the Legislature's office of all discretion. It eliminates community involvement. It opens the floodgates of litigation.”

The firefighters union is also focusing on other races in Los Angeles, spending more than $300,000 to elect City Councilman Ethan Weaver, who is running to unseat Raman.

The union is also spending money to support the re-election campaigns of Harris-Dawson, Hutt and City Council members John Lee and Imelda Padilla.