LA in mediation over $1.4 billion sidewalk settlement as repair requests continue to mount

The city of Los Angeles is facing increasing pressure to fix its crumbling pedestrian infrastructure.

LAist has learned that the city has been in regular mediation sessions over allegations that it is breaching the terms of a nearly $1.4 billion settlement agreement to repair sidewalks and construct curb ramps.

Paula Pearlman, one of four lawyers monitoring implementation of the settlement, said she and her colleagues are concerned about the city’s backlog of sidewalk repair requests and its progress installing curb ramps when it resurfaces streets.

Mediation comes in the city’s 10th year of a 30-year settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit brought by people with mobility disabilities in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

“As a result of the city’s repeated breaches of the settlement agreement, to this day residents and visitors to the city of Los Angeles who have mobility disabilities are denied full and equal access to sidewalks and other pedestrian walkways,” Guy Wallace, another one of the lawyers, said in an email to LAist.

While the substance of the mediation sessions is confidential, the lawyers have been meeting with city officials nearly monthly since the beginning of the year and have exchanged proposals and counterproposals to address areas of disagreement, according to Pearlman.

“The City is continuing in good faith legal negotiations,” the office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.

If issues persist beyond mediation, the lawyers can file a motion to have the court step in and resolve disputes, according to the settlement agreement.

More than 5,000 repair requests 

As part of the settlement, the city launched its Sidewalk Repair Program. Through that program, people with mobility disabilities can submit requests for the city to remediate faulty sidewalks, curb ramps or other pedestrian barriers.

As of Oct. 21, the city is facing a backlog of nearly 5,000 such requests, according to an LAist analysis of data from the Bureau of Engineering, which administers the program. That figure does not include requests Angelenos file through the city’s 311 system.

Since the settlement became effective in 2016, the city has completed 1,750 repairs, according to the bureau.

“The backlog reflects the reality that the annual volume of incoming requests exceeds the resources allocated annually to address these requests,” Mary Nemick, director of communications for the bureau, said in an email.

How much does the city spend on sidewalks through the program?

The Willits settlement agreement dictates the city needs to spend $31 million annually on its Sidewalk Repair Program. That amount is adjusted every five years to account for inflation, so in the latest budget, the city put nearly $36 million toward the program.

The mayor’s office said it has continued to meet the funding requirement every year Bass has been in office, though it acknowledges that the current funding level is “insufficient to address the entire citywide backlog of broken sidewalks, meaning the overall state of repair improves very slowly.”

The timeline for even the highest-priority repairs is one to five years, Sidewalk Repair Program Division Manager Julia Sanchez de la Vega said to the L.A. City Council Public Works committee in June. It can take up to 10 years to address low- to medium-priority requests, she added.

The Sidewalk Repair Program is not the only way the city invests in pedestrian improvements. In September, the mayor joined other city leaders to break ground on a project that will involve installing ADA-compliant curb ramps and high-visibility crosswalks, among other improvements, in downtown L.A. and Chinatown.

What’s the city doing to expedite repairs?

The city of L.A. has embarked on a project to use light detection and ranging technology, also known as LIDAR, to provide a point-in-time snapshot of the condition of its pedestrian infrastructure. The city has completed the scan for one-third of the city, including areas around 2028 Olympic Games venues.

The current budget includes $10 million to complete the scan citywide, which officials hope will help proactively prioritize maintenance and coordinate work across departments.