Los Angeles ridiculed for 'life-changing' women's sun poles

There is barely enough shade for two people in Sombre. its purpose was to provide potentially «life-changing» shade for women and minorities.

The so-called Sombrita, which cost $10,000, is essentially a pole with a projection to provide some shade, or sun visor. electric night lighting.

The site is being viewed as potentially the world's most pointless civic building, rivaling anything British councils have created.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation said 6,000 new narrow-pavement stop sheds are vital to protection of women using the transport network and hailed it as a «low-cost» infrastructure.

“The lack of basic amenities such as shade and lighting is not just an inconvenience. For women and gender minorities – half of our population – this could change the trajectory of their lives,” said Chelina Odbert, founder of the Kounkuey Design Initiative, which developed designs with female passengers.

Sombrita is about 18 inches wide inches and barely provides enough shade for two people, even when the sun is at right angles.

According to images posted online, the light at night also leaves the pavement below almost pitch black. black, illuminating only the top of the post.

Shadow pillars have drawn widespread criticism. Photo: twitter.com/Konkui

Kounki said the design was a response to the fact that only a quarter of bus stops in Los Angeles have awnings. They added that a typical bus stop costs $50,000 and requires the coordination of eight separate government departments.

“The first-generation Sombrita was designed to avoid permits and inter-agency coordination,” Kounki said. in a statement posted on social media. It had to «meet these city standards: be less than 24 inches wide… be completely on a pole… and be removable.»

The shadow pole drew derision far beyond Los Angeles.

«Basically, it's a sundial that casts a shadow on the bench next to it from time to time,» said Twitter user Scott Davis.

«Clearly, La Sombrita doesn't do the job of a bus stop: it has no seating, almost no shade, and no weather protection,» wrote Sam Deutsch in Belter Cities magazine.

«Despite the fact that politicians and the planners who glorify this silly structure obviously deserve criticism, the story behind this bus stop joke is actually quite indicative of the wider failings of American transportation infrastructure.»

A «narrow space» in Los Angeles with «La Sombrita» in it compared to a typical London bus stop with six seats, local day and night route maps, timetables and a digital board showing which buses are next and when. #LaSombrita https://t.co/F4eiysJEBz pic.twitter.com/t4T41A2HPR

— Hex (@hex) May 21, 2023

“The wildest thing about La Sombrita is that they had a full abs conferences,” said Alec Stapp, co-founder of the Progress Institute think tank.

“If my bus stop shadow and light thing cost $10,000 and didn’t give shadow during the day or light at night, I just won't talk about it.»

Local authorities in Barnsley, Brighton, Nuneaton or Prestwich may not have the weather of Los Angeles or celebrity voters like Jack Nicholson, Kim Kardashian or Angelina Jolie.< /p> >

But the next time the bus passengers are hiding from a recent downpour, they can always take comfort in the fact that things could be worse. They might be in LA.