L.A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz has a letter to the editor in today’s Los Angeles Times. Koretz is repeating his call for banning popular shared e-scooters in the name of pedestrian safety, something he pretty much never supported until the e-scooter “infestation” came along. A sharp-eyed anonymous reader, taking a page out of Alissa Walker’s Twitter playbook, shows Koretz hypocrisy by substituting a real everyday deadly problem for the imaginary safety issues caused by the e-scooter bogeyman. 

Councilman Paul Koretz: Why I introduced a motion to temporarily ban electric scooters gas powered cars in L.A.

To the editor: There is an infestation of electric scooters gas powered cars, with far too many riders drivers putting themselves and the public at risk. Virtually everyone who rides drives them does so unsafely and illegally.

Every day my staff receives complaints about riders not wearing helmets texting while driving, riding on the sidewalk driving in bike lanes, being too young intoxicated, and even riding two on a scooter driving without wearing seatbelts, all in violation of state law. Pedestrians are having to jump out of the way and cars responsible drivers have to swerve to avoid them other drivers, not always successfully, leading to injuries 244 of my fellow Angelenos killed each year in traffic violence, including 135 pedestrians.

I have asked for a temporary ban while we work to see if we can create regulations and policy implement proven traffic safety measures, like bike lanes on Westwood Boulevard, to prevent accidents. I believe the city would be negligent to allow the dangers to play out before we put together a cogent policy that we can be confident will work.

To be clear, my motion is a pause button. No one is saying that there will be a total ban on electric scooters gas powered cars forever. We must first figure out if through regulations these scooters cars can be made safe both for their riders drivers and the public.

Only if we are confident about safety and enforcement should we allow for their usage.

Paul Koretz, Los Angeles
The writer is the Los Angeles City Councilman for the 5th District.