How to Make the Walk West Better From Sunset Junction

Pedestrian safety was expected to be a hot topic when the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s Transportation and Public Works Committee convened Monday.

The meeting took place just a few blocks from where

It was also not far from the western edge of the Silver Lake Reservoir where a runner was injured on Tuesday.

The Committee’s agenda did not specifically include these topics, but it did include a discussion of ways to improve pedestrian safety along the walk from Sunset Junction along Santa Monica Boulevard toward the Red Line stop at Vermont Avenue.

Silver Lake resident Matthew Mooney is leading the effort. He said his first aim is to make locals aware of what walkers face going from Sunset Boulevard to Hoover Street along Santa Monica Boulevard:

At this time their exists major impediments to pedestrian flow and safety.  Fire hydrants, brush and telephone poles obstruct the sidewalk on the south side of the street. Ironically, if you are walking either to the pedestrian heavy Sunset Junction area of Silver Lake from the Red Line station at Santa Monica you will most likely find yourself on the south side of the street.  This goes for walking from Sunset Junction to the same Red Line station.

Mooney said he hoped the Monday meeting would define next steps for clearing out the heavily travelled southern edge.

Meantime, the Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy has reached out to council members Tom LaBonge and Eric Garcetti about action around the pedestrian incidents last week.

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s Public Safety Committee is also likely to weigh in on them next week.