Contributor: It's no wonder Angelenos are painting crosswalks themselves

On July 22, a feel-good story made headlines in Los Angeles: A cadre of civic-minded volunteers had spent a month of Saturdays coming together to paint crosswalks near Stoner Park in the Sawtelle neighborhood . A concerned resident (and friend of mine), Jonathan Hale, modeled the effort on other DIY crosswalks after he witnessed a series of close calls between pedestrians and cars. Yet, within three days of the reports about the civic effort, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation sent a crew to remove the crosswalks .

Why did LADOT act so quickly? It wasn’t because the crosswalks were sloppy. Hale had studied the code , and even the local City Council member’s representative said it “ looks beautiful .” In California, every stop-sign intersection also legally