{"id":88690,"date":"2025-12-10T04:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/88690\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T04:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:56:14","slug":"activist-faces-vandalism-charge-after-painting-crosswalks-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/88690\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist faces vandalism charge after painting crosswalks in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Frustrated by the city\u2019s slow progress in painting crosswalks at intersections they believe are unsafe, activists in Los Angeles have been picking up paint rollers and doing it themselves. Now one of them has been arrested on a vandalism charge.<\/p>\n

In a video posted online, Jonathan Hale wears a bright yellow safety vest as he\u2019s handcuffed by a police officer Sunday. His group, People\u2019s Vision Zero, had organized a guerrilla \u201cpaint party\u201d at a four-way crossing in a leafy residential neighborhood of west LA.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re vandalizing city property without a permit,\u201d the officer says. <\/p>\n

A woman out of frame can be heard saying, \u201cLeave him alone. He\u2019s not doing anything wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hale and his allies have organized stealth painting operations across the city at intersections they deem dangerous to pedestrians. They set up barricades and yellow tape and swiftly use rollers to paint the street with bright white markers that they say are code compliant. The group is expanding on work done for years by a similar advocacy organization, the Crosswalk Collective. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, the city will have to spend taxpayer dollars removing our half-finished crosswalk when this whole situation could have been avoided if the mayor\u2019s office didn\u2019t choose to ignore an issue where people\u2019s lives are at stake,\u201d Hale said in a statement following his arrest. <\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s been in touch with the office of Mayor Karen Bass and the city\u2019s Department of Transportation, or LADOT, but there has been little response. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince then I\u2019ve made it clear to them that we won\u2019t stop unless they publicly condemn us, or take tangible steps to make our streets safer,\u201d Hale said. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Crosswalks<\/p>\n

Crosswalks painted by activists are shown at the intersection of Wilkins Ave. and Kelton Ave. in the Westwood section of Los Angeles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/p>\n

Crosswalks painted by activists are shown at the intersection of Wilkins Ave. and Kelton Ave. in the Westwood section of Los Angeles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/p>\n

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The mayor\u2019s office said in a statement on Tuesday that it has offered to collaborate with Hale and \u201cany Angeleno who wants to make our streets safer\u201d to develop solutions to expedite the installation of crosswalks. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite communication about City, State, and Federal laws and parameters, Jonathan has chosen to continue to pursue his own course of action,\u201d the statement said. \u201cMayor Bass is determined to ensure the safety and accessibility of streets and sidewalks for Angelenos, no matter how they bike, roll, walk or ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messages were sent to LADOT seeking comment on Hale\u2019s actions. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Crosswalks<\/p>\n

Crosswalks painted by activists are shown at the intersection of Wilkins Ave. and Kelton Ave. in the Westwood section of Los Angeles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/p>\n

Crosswalks painted by activists are shown at the intersection of Wilkins Ave. and Kelton Ave. in the Westwood section of Los Angeles Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/p>\n

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The name of Hale\u2019s group is a take on the city\u2019s \u201cVision Zero\u201d plan to reduce traffic-related pedestrian deaths, which was instituted a decade ago under Bass\u2019 predecessor. <\/p>\n

Alex Ramirez, executive director of the pro-pedestrian nonprofit Los Angeles Walks, said LA needs a formal program \u2014 similar to one in Oakland, California \u2014 that provides resources for residents to help make streets safer. <\/p>\n

Her group is not connected with Hale\u2019s, but Ramirez said Tuesday that she understands his frustration. \u201cWhen communities flag dangerous intersections and see no response, people take action out of necessity,\u201d Ramirez said. <\/p>\n

Hale was cited for misdemeanor vandalism. He has a court date scheduled for Jan. 5. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Frustrated by the city\u2019s slow progress in painting crosswalks at intersections they believe are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[959,49413,7,18,7704,48787,4132,48,52,51,734,33117,47,50,49,13,49412,17,22919],"class_list":{"0":"post-88690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-activism","9":"tag-alex-ramirez","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-indictments","13":"tag-jonathan-hale","14":"tag-karen-bass","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-law-enforcement","19":"tag-local-news-for-apple","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","22":"tag-los-angeles-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-rebellions-and-uprisings","25":"tag-u-s-news","26":"tag-vandalism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}