The 4B’s: Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade

Community safety

Central LA City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit) County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Despite growing attention to walkability and accessibility, many areas of Downtown LA remain dangerous—especially for blind or low-vision Angelenos, wheelchair users, and families with strollers. Cracked sidewalks, missing curb ramps, and blocked paths are not just nuisances—they’re civil rights failures that lead to permanent injuries. The 4B’s: Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade responds by mobilizing a localized campaign to make these hazards visible and push for real, lasting repairs. The bandages mark the harm, but the Brigade builds the pressure.
Rooted in the work of DTLA Mobility for All, which has already brought together advocates and stakeholders, this initiative amplifies their call and expands it across LA County. We’re shifting away from reliance on lawsuits that haven’t produced systemic fixes, toward organizing power that unites people with disabilities, artists, small businesses, and residents around a shared demand: safe, accessible streets now.

The partnership will:
Leverage LA Walks’ expertise in walk audits and advocacy training to guide volunteers through access-centered fieldwork.
Partner with Public Matters, originator of the bandage concept, to lead the co-creation of bold, community-rooted visual storytelling that makes street-level inequities visible.
Work with DTLA Mobility for All, led by FASTLinkDTLA, to align disability justice priorities with Downtown stakeholders, including BIDs, to drive targeted investment and policy change.
Activate high-need sites with large-scale bandages linked to a public map showing repair estimates and action steps.
Host a public event and media moment during installation to elevate accessibility issues and celebrate community leadership.
Produce a toolkit to help other neighborhoods replicate the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade ahead of the 2028 Games.
These activations will serve as visual prompts for civic learning, creative expression, and collective advocacy for safer, more inclusive streets.

If successful, The 4B’s: Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade campaign will transform how Los Angeles County addresses long-ignored sidewalk and infrastructure failures—starting in Downtown LA and radiating outward. Unsafe conditions will no longer be invisible or accepted as normal. Instead, they’ll be marked, mapped, and challenged through a highly visible, community-led campaign that mobilizes disabled Angelenos, artists, advocates, and local businesses to demand urgent public and private investment.
This project will shift power to those most affected—residents historically excluded from infrastructure decisions—and equip them to lead. By building pressure ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, The 4B’s lays the groundwork for a city where accessibility is non-negotiable, infrastructure serves everyone, and public space reflects the lived realities of all Angelenos, not just global spectators.