Sidewalk Patches

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Friday to launch its most ambitious sidewalk repair plan in two decades, despite complaints the plan is still grossly inadequate and uses a formula that may unfairly penalize more affluent areas of the city.

The city plans to spend $9 million to repair about 46.5 miles of sidewalks this year, even though about 4,600 miles of sidewalks are in disrepair.

At that rate, it would take the city nearly 100 years to fix all of Los Angeles’ crumbling and buckling sidewalks, officials noted.

“It’s a drop in the bucket,” Councilwoman Laura Chick said.

Added Helen Norman, president of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn.: “It’s just ridiculous, especially considering they just gave $4 million to the Democratic National Convention.”

Even so, Councilman Mike Feuer said the repairs planned for this year are a break from “20 years of failure to deal with this issue,” during which the biggest chunk of general fund money set aside in any given year was $750,000.

Feuer and others said they had pushed for more money but had agreed to compromise with the mayor on this year’s budget with the understanding the program could be increased next year.

“It’s just a very bare beginning,” Feuer conceded, adding: “I am absolutely committed to assuring that as we go into the next budget cycle . . . that we make every effort to expand that amount of money.”

In addition to concerns the amount budgeted is inadequate to tackle the problem, some council members also questioned the formula proposed for allocating the work, saying it is unfair to more affluent parts of the city.

The city has set aside $4.9 million in general fund money for sidewalk repairs, which the City Council agreed Friday to divide equally among the 15 council districts, repairing about 1.7 miles in each district.

An additional $4.1 million in federal funds was to be distributed based in large part on the amount of low-income census tracts in each council district, but the council voted Friday to have a committee reconsider how this money will be allocated.

Under this formula, Chick’s West Valley district would get 1.7 miles of sidewalk repairs from the general fund and none from the federal funds, while Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ South-Central district would get 4.9 miles of repairs when the two funds are combined.

“I definitely have questions for my district knowing that I have at least two [low-income] census tracts that would qualify” for federal funds, Chick said. “My staff has gone out and looked in those areas. We have some pretty horrific sidewalks.”

Chick said another option floated by the Street Maintenance Bureau would have allocated higher levels of general fund money to districts receiving fewer federal dollars so every council district would get 3.1 miles of repairs.

But Councilman Alex Padilla of Pacoima, whose district would get 3.2 miles of repairs under the proposed formula, opposed what he said would be the “manipulation” of the combined funds to ensure each council district receives an equal share.

“What I felt that did was not only compromise, but really do away with the spirit and intent of the [federal funds] we receive to have funds going to needy communities to offset the conditions that take place there,” Padilla said.

Even so, Padilla agreed to a request for the federal funding allocation to be reviewed in committee after Councilman Mike Hernandez also voiced concern some council districts with impoverished census tracts are not getting federal dollars.

The failure to fix broken sidewalks carries a price tag of its own. The city paid $2.7 million in trip-and-fall claims last year, according to Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office. The majority of that amount was paid out in cases involving broken sidewalks, according to city records.