How Budget Cuts Hurt Black, Brown, and Vulnerable Communities
Hello BWB Community–We’re starting to get into the swing of things with the Substack and we wanted to let you know what’s coming the next couple weeks and what you can find later in the post.
Next week: We’re launching our Biking While Black pilot podcast mini-series. We had the absolute pleasure of working with UCLA intern Talia Hamilton who recorded and produced a fantastic five-part pilot podcast series that we’ll be rolling out in its entirety next week. This quick rollout won’t be the norm for us, but we hope it will be the first of more audio to come. We’re excited to hear your thoughts on what she produced!
Later in this post: In each post after our main article, we’ll post a list of all the events we have coming up and any other more immediate updates. So keep scrolling after you read this article and take action to help fund transportation infrastructure in LA.
Mayor Karen Bass recently released her proposed 2025-26 budget, and it is bleak with a cut of $13.9 billion from the municipal budget. It’s especially dire for the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT) which could see a $13.3 million cut and one of the biggest decreases in personnel with 400 positions proposed to be cut.
Michael Schneider, founder of Streets for All laid it out to my team in an email this week:
The city committed to Vision Zero 10 years ago, and deaths have gone *up* in the last 10 years; this budget all but gives up on trying to actually implement vision zero;
Voters passed HLA by 2/3; this budget basically gives up on HLA implementation;
We are hosting the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028; this budget basically gives up on having a “car free” Olympics;
We are opening new Metro lines all over the place, this budget basically gives up on first/last mile;
This budget may lead to the cancellation of open street events like CicLAvia;
This budget may indefinitely delay the implementation of speed cameras, and may lead to the end of the cameras on buses currently operating that benefit bus riders by automatically ticketing cars illegally parked in the bus lane;
This year the city will pay out more to people hurt on our streets (disproportionally impacting people of color as you’ve noted) than actually fixing the streets. (He wrote about it in a Medium post here).
As Michael tells us, this is bad for the entire city. As we always do here at BWB, we’re naming that this issue hits communities of color especially hard—and it’s imperative to center that truth in how we move forward with this work.
We are talking a lot about how this impacts infrastructure development, but it’s really important to also emphasize the people that are the most harmed by this kind of budget cut. These are BIPOC neighborhoods who have not only trusted our public officials and the Mayor to keep their promises which includes protecting the budgets to insure the safety improvements in our communities that rely on public transit and are most affected by traffic violence.
In the area of public transit, according to a Metro survey, 79% of bus riders are Black and Latinx 66% are rail riders. With budget cuts, public transit access will be reduced, thus disproportionately impacting Black and Brown LA residents who rely on buses and rail to get to work and around their communities the most. And with safety improvement projects being reduced, they are going to greatly impact communities of color who are already the most at risk of traffic violence. According to the LA County Department of Public Health, Black pedestrians represent 18% of pedestrian deaths in LA despite only representing 8% of the population.
Madeline Brozen, deputy director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs gave us an example of specifically how the budget cuts could impact people with darker skin. “At the Bureau of Street Lighting, every single maintenance person will have to be shifted to only work on DWP projects in order to absorb the cuts but not lose any crew,” she wrote us in an email. “This means that any street light that goes out will not be fixed for one year. We know that the pedestrian environment for communities of color already suffers from safety concerns and this will only exacerbate people's safety concerns.”
While we know that advocating for infrastructure investments is about benefiting the community as a whole, it should not just be organizations like ours that specifically advocate for People of Color who should be speaking out about this. This should be a role of all advocacy organizations to show that investing in communities of color is investing in our community as a whole.
With that, we ask you to help us in advocating for transportation investments by centering the lives that are most at risk.
How to help!
While there were protests last week, there are three ways you can take action TODAY:
Sign this petition to tell Mayor Bass not to “DOGE” LA Safety
Contact your local councilperson to tell them to advocate to prioritize LA Safety
Share our social media posts on this issue and tag your local council member
UPCOMING EVENTS
In addition to all the advocacy work going on, we have a lot of events coming up and we hope that you’ll join us!
Grand Opening Celebration Rail to Rail Project
When: Saturday, May 17, 2025, 1-4:30pm
Where: 1200 Block of Slauson between Budlong Ave and S. Normandie Ave
Get ready to walk, roll, and ride into something new! Join us for the Grand Opening Celebration of the Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor — a brand-new, beautifully designed path that connects communities across South LA.
This family-friendly event is all about celebrating movement, connection, and community. Whether you're on foot, wheels, or with a stroller, there's something here for everyone.
What You’ll Enjoy:
✂️ Ribbon-cutting ceremony with local leaders
🎶 Live music & DJ vibes
🎯 Games and fun for all ages
🧺 Local vendors & delicious food trucks
💡 Community resource zone with info & giveaways
Stay tuned as well for more of our involvement with Rail to Rail. We will be hosting events over the coming months and will announce those on social media and here! We’re excited to see you there!