Public at Risk as Nearly 50% of L.A. City's Sidewalks are Unsafe and Efforts to Fix them Prove Ineffective

VAN NUYS, CA – Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 – The safety of anyone who uses a sidewalk throughout the City of Los Angeles is at risk as the percentage of broken, dangerous sidewalks approaches 50 percent and sidewalks are falling into disrepair faster than already damaged sidewalks can be fixed.

That’s why a coalition of Realtor associations throughout the City of Los Angeles has developed a public education campaign designed to notify home owners of their rights and responsibilities, how to get broken sidewalks repaired, and to pressure city leaders into implementing a comprehensive, citywide sidewalk repair program, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors announced today.

Realtors will go door-to-door contacting homeowners wherever a sidewalk is in disrepair and poses a potential public safety hazard. They will distribute information materials and direct homeowners to a website – www.srar.com – where problems can be reported and information on how to proceed will be posted.

“At a minimum, the budget to repair already broken sidewalks needs to be doubled if city leaders truly care about protecting the elderly, disabled, youngsters on bikes or roller blades and runners who every day use sidewalks and could be injured in a trip and fall,” said Winnie Davis, president of the 12,500-member Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

“It makes sense to spend more dollars now to repair sidewalks rather than pay millions more later to defend lawsuits that will result from the city’s inaction,” Davis said. “It’s ludicrous to think that this massive problem could be solved by implementing an ordinance requiring sidewalks to be fixed only when a home is sold.”

The city already has two initiatives in place, but officials readily acknowledge that at the current pace it will take at least 50 years to repair the 4,600 miles of already broken sidewalks.

Broken sidewalks represent 43 percent of the 10,750 miles of sidewalks throughout the City of Los Angeles, but the percentage of broken sidewalks could be much higher because many homeowners may not have reported a problem to the city. Seventy percent of the broken sidewalks are in front of residences while 30 percent are near commercial properties.

“A regiment of Realtors is being trained to identify problem locations, contact property owners, and work with Neighborhood Councils citywide to seek a solution to a serious public safety problem,” said Jim Link, chief executive officer of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors. “Just like the police department’s ‘Broken Windows’ initiative, a broken sidewalk often is the first sign of potentially more serious problems afflicting a neighborhood.

“Fixing damaged sidewalks may prevent a neighborhood from going into decline, protect property values, improve the environment, and make homeowners proud,” Link said. “But that won’t happen given the city’s current Band-aid approach to this monumental problem.”

The City of Los Angeles budgets $9 million which pays for 107 personnel dedicated to fixing sidewalks and pruning and replanting trees, which typically are the cause of sidewalk damage due to root growth.

Homeowners have been responsible for fixing broken sidewalks since 1911, but as of 1974 the city has been accountable for sidewalk repairs if the city planted the trees that caused the damage. There are 680,000 trees boarding sidewalks with 80 percent of the damage to sidewalks caused by parkway tree root growth.

However, the city crews repair only about 64 miles of sidewalk each year.

The city also has the popular 50/50 program where a homeowner and the city split the bill of repairing sidewalks. That guarantees that those projects move to the top of the priority list and get completed in the same fiscal year, but because of inadequate funding the 50/50 program fixes less than 40 miles annually.

The two city programs combined fix about 90 miles per year, but at that pace it would take 50 years to repair just the currently damaged sidewalks.

The 50/50 program is popular because sidewalks get fixed quickly, participating residents avoid paying permit and inspection fees, the work is guaranteed for five years and it is performed and inspected according to the latest technical specifications.

The budget for the 50/50 program is $1.8 million – not nearly enough to meet existing demand from homeowners or come close to solving the problem.

The Los Angeles City Council is contemplating passage of an ordinance requiring that sidewalks be fixed whenever a property is sold.

“Citywide public safety concerns and liability risks are never solved with a point-of-sale initiative,” said Mel Wilson, the association’s legislative advocate. “Just like installation of earthquake gas shut-off valves being required when a home is sold, some homes on a street will be safe while others will still pose a risk, which still leaves the entire community vulnerable.

“Additionally, fixing a sidewalk is a much more complicated, expensive and time-consuming task than installing a gas shut-off valve or a low-flow toilet,” Wilson said. “Sidewalk repairs could bog down escrows forever.”

In a recent citywide survey of Neighborhood Council participants, sidewalk repair work was among the highest budget priorities cited. Given their choice of where to cut the budget, city residents felt that livable communities – which include sidewalk repairs – should be one of the last areas to see a reduction in funding.

Thirty-eight percent of Neighborhood Council participants endorsed maintaining the current level of funding to fix sidewalks, 37 percent favored charging a fee on all properties, 19 percent wanted homeowners to share the cost, and 6 percent wanted to fund more sidewalk repairs by cutting back on other city services.

“While there was some debate about how to fund sidewalk repairs,” Wilson said, “everyone agreed that solving this public safety issue is a vital concern that needs to be addressed now.”

In addition to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, Associations or Boards of Realtors participating in the campaign include: Beverly Hills Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors, Southwest Los Angeles Association of Realtors, Rancho Southeast Association of Realtors, Foothills Association of Realtors and the Consolidated Realty Board.

The Southland Regional Association of Realtors is a local trade association with more than 12,000 members serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. SRAR is one of the largest local associations in the nation. Go to www.srar.com to search for every home listed for sale in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.