‘A model project’: a father’s fight to transform one of LA’s deadliest roads

Sunset Boulevard is notorious for pedestrian and cyclist accidents and parents are campaigning to make the street safer

School had recently let out, summer was almost here. But Terence Heuston and his sons - then five and nine - still had work to do. Heuston, a lead organizer for Sunset4All, a grassroots organization advocating for a road redesign on a dangerous 3.2 mile (5.15km) stretch of Sunset Blvd - roughly between Fountain Ave and Dodger Stadium - wrangled his kids for yet another Saturday of community activism.

In June 2022, the family joined about 20 other volunteers gathered in front of Woodcat Coffee in Echo Park and set out for what they called the last mile" - walking the boulevard, talking to businesses that could be impacted by a redesign. In Spanish and English, volunteers took their time - talking about the 40 severe and fatal collisions on this part of the road in the past decade, and discussing fine points of the group's nearly six-year effort to get the city to change the roadway. A couple of hours in, Heuston's boys lagged behind a bit but were still in decent spirits.