Santa Ana’s Willard Neighborhood has rolled out the city’s first mural crosswalk, something locals say is the result of a burgeoning culture of speaking out and organizing.
The effort may even save lives, as for many residents, walking and biking comes out of necessity.
Irene Cabañas, a resident and President of the Willard Neighborhood Association is among those that wanted to see change.
“For those who speak out, you receive,” said Cabañas, who helped organize residents to gather data and garnered support from the city to create the mural.
“I am learning how government works,” added Cabañas.
The project was a collaboration between the Willard neighborhood, Santa Ana Active Streets (SAAS), and Santa Ana Public Works Agency.
The partnership between the neighborhood and SAAS began in 2022 – a community-based coalition that received a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) for a community pop-up event, said Santa Ana Spokesperson Paul Eakins.
This is where residents discussed and reimagined traffic safety.
“It’s funny, we had no park, so we did it in a parking lot” recalled Cabañas.
Willard is a neighborhood with nearly 10,000 residents. Yet it only offers one active local park, the local middle school. Along with empty parking lots, it’s one of few impromptu greenspaces for kids to play at.
In 2022 the event in the Willard Neighborhood had a luchador help children cross the street, drew a temporary colorful crosswalk and gathered input from locals.
“One of the data points that came out of that event is that it’s been shown that drivers will slow down for art,” says Cabañas, “drivers will have the intention to slow down and observe art than if it’s a pedestrian yield and they [driver] try to speed up and get ahead of the pedestrian.”
In a 2022 study, researchers found that asphalt art can curb accidents by 50 percent.
“Our neighborhood happens to be in the pathway where folks are getting to City Hall and Civic Center. They take our streets to get to their freeways. It’s not a good mix to have a high vehicle area and a high pedestrian area,” says Cabañas.
Fast forward to 2024, and that temporary colorful crosswalk has now become a reality.
The crosswalk mural, which cost over $50,000 dollars, is located across one of the neighborhood’s main recreation areas.
It signals that pedestrians and children are present.
“The intention behind this location was secured by the community. And it was through the collaboration of Willard neighborhood and SAAS that we were able to compile data over two years of their collaboration that pointed to the much-needed attention of addressing safety at 15 and Ross,” said Johnathan Hernandez, Santa Ana Council Member, who represents the ward 5 where Willard neighborhood is located.
“I get very happy and excited when I ride my bike through the mural,” said Esther Guzman, 7, as she glanced at her mom.
“This is good because many times cars just fly past the signs, don’t respect the signs, and there are a lot of children riding their bikes,” said Dalia Guzman, 50, an immigrant from El Salvador and longtime resident of the Willard neighborhood.
“The painting is very interesting. It will help people slow down, look at the art, and stop for the schoolchildren and adults using the crosswalks.”
Cynthia Luján, an artist and advisory council member of Santa Ana Active Streets, designed the mural over four weeks – it was then installed by the Santa Ana Public Works Agency through a process that actually involves printing the design and then applying it with heat onto the crosswalk floor.
The mural depicts a small dog, a growing tree, a bus and a young child riding a bicycle.
Luján created the mural “to bring visibility to people who are disproportionately affected by traffic violence.”
“This is a way to center joy in public spaces, but also bring awareness to the unfortunate events that happen and hopefully bring more dignity to people who experience those unfortunate events.”
In Santa Ana, a mural-rich city, it is no wonder murals are continuing to evolve in the city.
“This public art is a true reflection of the input of the families and kids of this neighborhood,” said Santa Ana Councilwoman Jesse Lopez, who grew up in the area.
The crosswalk is 36-by-16-feet and made of thermoplastic to withstand cars turning on the street and pedestrians walking over it, said the City of Santa Ana, which they say is designed to enhance the visibility of the crosswalk for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
“In a lot of our neighborhoods, we see colors. So with something like this, I think that it can enlighten ideas,” said Dorian Romero, Project Manager of Santa Ana Active Streets.
“What can we imagine about our communities? I just think that something like this could change someone’s day.”
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