Panel to Study Street Safety at Events

Concerned that farmers markets and other events on public streets are vulnerable to a traffic tragedy similar to last week’s in Santa Monica, Los Angeles City Council members voted Wednesday to form a task force to study ways to protect residents.

About 2,500 events on public streets are held each year in Los Angeles -- an average of seven each day -- and about 80% of them have no barricades to protect pedestrians from wayward cars like the one that plowed through Santa Monica’s market, killing 10 and injuring dozens of others, city officials said.

“We need to get to the bottom of what we can do, what we should do,” Councilman Tony Cardenas said.

Councilman Jack Weiss added that the city has a responsibility not only to protect residents, but also to shield itself from lawsuits.

City officials do provide protection for about 20% of events, often wooden or plastic barricades, said Alan Willis, principal transportation engineer for the city’s Department of Transportation. The city does not use concrete barricades, which are cumbersome and often require street closures of several days to set up.

Councilman Dennis Zine said he was concerned that “a little horseshoe and a couple cones” do not serve as ample protection for the public. “Are we using the latest technology; are we using the best devices to protect the people in that closed off area so a tragedy does not occur?” he said.

Council members also said they wanted to study the costs of closing streets for special events, which range from the sprawling Los Angeles Marathon to small block parties.

Sometimes the city is reimbursed for the costs associated with closing streets, but often it is not.

On Wednesday alone, for example, the council approved waiving hundreds of dollars in fees for community events from San Pedro to northeast L.A.