Fixing L.A.'s Sidewalks is a $1.2 Billion Problem
L.A. has 10,750 miles of sidewalks, but 4,600 miles--that's around 43%--are in disrepair. Ouch. The cost of repairing all that? Over $1.2 billion. Double ouch. Between 2000 and 2009, some 550 miles of sidewalk was repaired but during that time more than that amount was damaged. Oh, yeah.
For nearly five years, politicians and city staff have been working on a way to address that problem, namely by the prospect of making adjoining property owners pay for it during the real estate process. The idea is that escrow would close only after a sidewalk was certified as safe.
In fact, sidewalk repair is the responsibility of property owners according to state law and city law, thanks to The Improvement Act of 1911 and Los Angeles Municipal Code. But in 1974 the city accepted the responsibility for curbs, driveways and sidewalk repair if damaged by tree root growth because of available federal funding. Those funds have since dried up, but the responsibility was never put back on property owners and the backlog of damaged sidewalks grew substantially with city funding never matching the need.
Now the city is considering reversing the tree root damage growth exception, "effectively eliminating City responsibility for repair of curbs, driveways and sidewalks damaged by any cause, including by tree root growth," according to a city analysis (.pdf). Also under consideration would be extending the time to repair sidewalks once a property owner is notified. Current law says "two weeks" but the a recommendation on the table is 90 days. And if enacted, there would be a three-year moratorium on the issuance of any Notices to Repair Sidewalks.
Whether the city goes the point-of-sale route, the 1911 route or a combintation thereof, is what will be discussed in future days, including today at the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee.