Pacific Beach has had enough of deadly crashes.<\/p>\n
Community members and local lawmakers are putting forward initiatives and suggestions to improve street safety after a spate of deadly vehicle-on-pedestrian or cyclist collisions rocked the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One such way is through art. <\/p>\n
While Councilmember Joe LaCava is\u00a0reducing speed limits<\/a>\u00a0as a way to combat road violence, the community organizations PB Arts Center and Beautiful PB are trying to slow drivers another way: By inviting the neighborhood to create eye-catching murals to improve street safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n These murals can entice drivers to slow down to catch the view.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith the recent three individuals who have died on our Pacific Beach streets, we just wanted to bring more attention to the need for street safety advocacy, and engaging the community in this and using art as a way to help people reimagine how we move through our neighborhoods,\u201d said Michelle Sexton, a board member of\u00a0PB Arts Center<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In February, two hit-and-run collisions in Pacific Beach drew widespread grief. The first killed\u00a06-year-old Hudson O\u2019Loughlin<\/a>\u00a0while on a family bike ride, and the beloved\u00a0Tavern at the Beach bar manager, Qwente \u201cQ\u201d Bryant<\/a>, was killed two weeks later\u00a0while walking home from work. On March 10, a third person, Jamison Kimbrough<\/a>, was killed while riding a bicycle through the Fanuel Street and Grand Avenue intersection.\u00a0<\/p>\n The arts center is holding a series of workshops in April on its newly opened back lot, the PB Arts Commons. Participants will paint the future of safe streets onto murals for electric boxes throughout the neighborhood at the Streets Speak Art Jam. The murals do not need to have themes of cycling or safety; they just need to draw attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that even just seeing art, and it doesn\u2019t have to be on a topic, catches the eye and can slow people down,\u201d Sexton explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n