PETITION TITLE
 TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON IN SKID ROW: Restore Safety, Visibility & Basic Human Dignity NOW

 

PETITION TO:
 Mayor of Los Angeles

Los Angeles City Council District 14 (CD14)

LADWP

Bureau of Street Lighting

DTLA Alliance

City of Los Angeles

 

ORGANIZED BY:
 NANA — Nexus Arts & Narrative Agency

In partnership with SkidrowART • CALA • Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition (SRCIC)

And countless residents, artists, volunteers, organizers, service providers, and community allies

 

 
THE PROBLEM
 

Skid Row — one of the largest and most stable unhoused communities in the United States — has been left in darkness.

Entire blocks across 5th, 6th, 7th, San Pedro, Crocker, Towne, Wall, and Gladys now sit without functioning streetlights. What should be a basic civic utility has become a nightly hazard.

This isn’t just an inconvenience.

This is a public-safety failure in the center of Los Angeles.

Residents of Skid Row already face some of the harshest socioeconomic conditions in the city. Removing light only intensifies that vulnerability. The absence of working streetlights exposes thousands of unhoused and housed residents, workers, volunteers, and service providers to:

• Increased assaults and violence
• Higher theft and targeting
• More accidents and injuries
• Unreported harm due to poor visibility
• A growing sense of fear and isolation
   

And the data backs it up:

• The National Institute of Justice confirms that well-lit streets reduce crime through visibility and deterrence.

• The American Journal of Public Health reports that improved urban lighting significantly decreases injuries and pedestrian accidents.

Lighting isn’t optional. It is foundational to public safety, mobility, and dignity.

Los Angeles already allocates annual funds for utilities and infrastructure upgrades. Restoring and maintaining lighting in Skid Row is not only possible — it’s overdue. This community should not bear the burden of delayed repairs, bureaucratic gridlock, or infrastructural neglect.

Skid Row deserves the same visibility, care, and safety that every other Los Angeles neighborhood receives.

By signing this petition, you stand with the Skid Row community in demanding accountability, action, and basic human visibility.

Turn the lights back on — because no neighborhood should be forced to live in the dark.

 

WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING

 We call on the City of Los Angeles, CD14, LADWP, and the Bureau of Street Lighting to take immediate and transparent action:

1. Immediate restoration of all non-functioning streetlights, Prioritizing high-risk corridors and residential blocks.

2. A full public audit of lighting outages , Including cause, timeline, and scope — made accessible to the public.

3. A 30-day emergency repair plan With clear deadlines, repair prioritization, and public reporting.

4. Direct communication from LADWP & the Bureau of Street Lighting, With updates to residents, service providers, and Skid Row organizations.

5. Long-term reinvestment in Skid Row’s lighting infrastructure, Equal to the standard of care in neighboring DTLA districts.

 

WHY THIS MATTERS

 Light is safety. Light is dignity. Light is visibility — the first layer of feeling human in the public space you’re forced to navigate.

Skid Row residents — elders, families, workers, artists, volunteers, veterans — deserve the basics: to walk at night without fear, to see and be seen, and to live in a neighborhood where infrastructure doesn’t disappear after business hours.

Darkness is not a policy. It’s neglect. And we refuse to let that neglect continue. Turning the lights back on is more than a repair.

It’s a commitment to valuing every Angeleno — housed or unhoused — and ensuring that the heart of downtown is treated with respect, safety, and care.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO
 

Sign this petition. Share it widely. Help us demand that Los Angeles stop overlooking Skid Row and start investing in its safety.

The more voices we gather, the faster the city must respond.

Stand with Skid Row. Stand for safety. Stand for visibility. Turn the lights back on.