During the Aug. 4, 2025, public comment period, at least a dozen speakers urged the council to keep school crossing guards in place, citing pedestrian safety, the needs of elders and students, and the value of bilingual crossing personnel.

Frank Aguirre, representing Presipia Group, described his organization’s experience in community outreach and said his team submitted responsive bids for the city’s broadband outreach procurement; he also urged the city to maintain crossing guards as a community safety measure.

Harold Kimme, a transportation planner and Huntington Park resident, said the data in the staff report should not be read to mean crossing guards are unnecessary. “The lack of collisions at those intersections during crossing guard hours suggests that crossing guards are doing their job and, in fact, mitigating the risk of collisions,” Kimme said, urging a more careful, data-driven analysis.

Several neighborhood residents added anecdotal accounts of near-misses and repeated collisions in school areas. One resident provided the city clerk with a list of collisions in a particular corridor and asked the city to open a conversation with Los Angeles Unified School District and operations staff. Written communications submitted to the city clerk included four items specifically citing concerns about crossing-guard cuts.

City staff acknowledged the comments and said the crossing-guard issue appears on the regular agenda and will be the subject of a public hearing later in the meeting. Staff also said the outreach team and operations departments will be involved and that the council will have an opportunity during the public hearing portion to examine the data and public testimony.

Discussion vs. decision: at the Aug. 4 meeting the council did not vote on retaining or cutting crossing guards; the matter was the subject of public comment and scheduled agenda items. Public commenters asked the council for preventive action and for the city to prioritize visibility and pedestrian safety near schools.

What to watch: the council’s forthcoming public-hearing discussion and staff report, and any staff-provided data analysis comparing collision incidence with crossing-guard hours and locations.