Grant to Help Promote Pedestrian Safety

Santa Ana will use a new $150,000 traffic safety grant to hire educators, design a mural and create an arts program aimed at ending the city’s standing as one of Southern California’s most dangerous cities for pedestrians, officials said Friday.

The money, awarded this week by the state Office of Traffic Safety, will allow Santa Ana to extend a safety program being coordinated by experts at UC Irvine, who for two years have canvassed city neighborhoods studying safety concerns and distributing multilingual educational fliers.

The effort is one of many safety initiatives underway in a city with the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California. Police also are cracking down on jaywalkers, educating schoolchildren about pedestrian safety and visiting bars to warn patrons about the dangers of walking the streets while intoxicated.

“It’s a small grant,” Mayor Miguel A. Pulido said Friday. “But you look at the way it’s distributed, and we’re affecting the whole community.”

Along with the art projects, the grant also will help support a monthly cable television show that will teach pedestrians how to keep safe.

“This is part of an ongoing effort,” said John Palacio, president of the Santa Ana school board. “This is strictly an education-only grant, and $150,000 is a lot of money.”

The city also plans to apply for a $1-million grant to improve crosswalks and traffic signals, Palacio said. Installing new signals can cost $100,000 to $200,000 per intersection.

Local leaders and safety advocates were on hand for the grant announcement Friday, including Palacio, Pulido and state Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim). After declaring they were making significant headway on the problem, state officials presented a giant $150,000 check to the mayor, who posed for pictures with about a dozen schoolchildren.

Last year, a Santa Ana school district study found that about half of the pedestrian accidents in the city involved children walking near schools.

A Times analysis found accidents involving pedestrians in 1998 claimed lives in Santa Ana at higher rates than any other town in Southern California. In 1999, accidents decreased from 170 to 144, but fatalities increased from five to seven.

Pulido previously drew criticism for his silence on pedestrian safety when his city became a focal point for hearings by concerned state lawmakers in Sacramento. Last winter, Correa convened a committee in Santa Ana on the issue. Pulido was invited but did not attend.

The mayor defended that absence at Friday’s press conference, saying he had a scheduling conflict and had been present at previous pedestrian safety events.