Passing along the information below regarding Sidewalk Repair.
-Cindy Cleghorn, STNC Secretary
Folks, hi.
I accidentally became a sidewalk repair expert. I’m passing this information on in case it is relevant to you, your HOA, or your NC.
This concerns sidewalks adjacent to single-family homes and condominiums in the city.
The information below is in two sections: The first is a matter of fact; the second is an article published today in CityWatch.
Regards,
Cary
Cary Brazeman
cary@laneighbors.org
310-205-3592
SIDEWALK REPAIR – EMERGENCY REPAIRS
If a gaping hole, gap or crack emerges in the sidewalk adjacent to your residential property, and it poses a significant hazard, call 311. The Bureau of Street Services will send a crew to fill the hole, gap or crack with asphalt.
SIDEWALK REPAIR – PERMANENT REPAIRS
The city is now out of the permanent sidewalk repair business. As the article below notes, the 50-50 repair program is dead. When the city was in this business, and if your sidewalk needed a permanent repair or replacement, you could either participate in the 50-50 program or go on a waiting list for the city to eventually do the work. At the time the 50-50 program was killed, along with the regular program, the waiting list for sidewalk repair was 83 years.
SIDEWALK REPAIR – RESPONSIBILITY
Under state law, homeowners are technically responsible for maintenance of their adjacent sidewalk.
SIDEWALK REPAIR – LIABILITY
Because sidewalk is part of the public parkway, the city maintains general liability for personal injury. That said, if the city cites you and you don’t make a repair, or if you are aware of a problem and don’t address it and there is an incident, the city may argue that you are liable or partially liable.
ARTICLE
City of Broken Sidewalks, Missed Opportunity
By Cary Brazeman
CityWatchLA.com, May 3, 2010
For those who don’t know, LA’s highly vaunted 50-50 sidewalk repair program is as dead as DONE (the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which is getting the budget ax).
Actually, the 50-50 program has been dead for more than a year. The program, which allowed residents to accelerate city-made repairs to their sidewalks by covering 50% of the cost, was quietly killed in the months leading up to last year’s municipal elections.
That’s the bad news.
The worse news is that if you need or want to permanently repair the sidewalk adjacent to your residential property, you’re now on your own. The “Do It Yourself Sidewalk Repair” fact sheet (a real fact sheet) posted on the city’s website might as well offer a link to the DIY cable television network, or a lesson in how to operate a jackhammer. That’s how on your own you are.
The reality was acknowledged at last week’s joint meeting of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee and the Public Works Committee.
Los Angeles has 10,750 miles of sidewalk. An estimated 4,600 miles, or 43%, are in disrepair due to tree roots having separated the sidewalks from the ground or other factors, according to the Bureau of Street Services.
With the 50-50 repair program dead, Angelenos are left with no system for sidewalk repair, including:
- No regular citywide monitoring, inspection and enforcement to ensure residential property sidewalks are properly maintained
- No citywide standards for parkway reconstruction and repair to ensure consistency and safety
- No list of approved or recommended contractors to perform permanent repairs for property owners who are cited or voluntarily want to fix their sidewalks
- No city-negotiated repair rates to save residential property owners money
- No financing mechanism to help middle- and low-income residents fix their sidewalks
- No foreseeable end to the city’s mounting liability for personal injuries due to sidewalk disrepair
Councilman Bernard Parks, whose common sense has shined through recently on the budget and DWP, observed last week that we now have a “non-system” for sidewalk repair.
Yes, we’ve had a non-system for sidewalk repair for a year, and we apparently will have to wait at least another year for a non-non-system.
We don’t get these two years back, Mayor Villabeutner. In the meantime, we’re missing a prime opportunity to help fix the city and stimulate the local economy.
Cary Brazeman is founder of the community organization LA Neighbors United. He can be reached at cary@laneighbors.org.
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