The city of Los Angeles has a 4,600-mile-long problem with broken sidewalks.
Although it’s been 40 years since the city set out to repair tree-damaged sidewalks, the Los Angeles City Council as well as ruffled local pedestrians are still all talk, no walk.
In February, the city council took a baby step in allocating $10 million to sidewalk repair. Last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in his first budget proposal that he would add another $20 million to sidewalk repair next fiscal year, bringing the total to $30 million for the sidewalks fund.
Of the initial $10 million though, not a single cent has been spent, much to many Angelenos’ frustration. Rather, the city council’s Budget and Finance Committee has advised the city to hold the money for potential damage control of a pending lawsuit settlement, ironically regarding the injurious state of sidewalks.
But getting wrapped up in how to spend the $10 million is a waste of time and energy, a distraction from finding a long-term concrete solution to our long-term concrete problem. Estimates put a complete city-wide sidewalk makeover at $1.5 billion, an expense that easily swallows the $10 million of chump change the Budget and Finance Committee is now clinging to.
Rather than squabble over the details concerning the pending $30 million, Angelenos must rally behind a solution of actual consequence, one that ensures Westwood residents see an equal share of the improvements: the recent proposal of a half-cent sales tax as part of the city council’s “Save Our Streets” movement.
The sales tax, which, given council approval, will appear on the November 2014 ballot, would raise an annual $30 per taxpayer for 15 years – a temporary tax for permanent repair. Over 15 years, it will ultimately generate a healthy $4.5 billion to a pavements-exclusive trust fund. Similar sales taxes have gained support among residents in other cities such as Pismo Beach for its gradual, pay-as-you-go design.
The sales tax cuts the wait time significantly, wrapping up sidewalk repair in approximately 15 years, as opposed to the near century it would take at the current $10 million to $20 million per year allocations. And when the already monumental cost of sidewalk repair doubles every 10 years, efficiency is crucial.
Besides being efficient, the sales tax also gives Westwood residents a fair share of the results.
The city’s currently available funds cover a measly 2 percent of the broken sidewalks. And if the city keeps with its plan to prioritize repair in highly trafficked areas, or the recent suggestion to target sidewalks abutting city facilities, our relatively sleepy neighborhood will be one of the first cut out of the picture.
The temporary tax would also alleviate our individual burdens by calling upon Los Angeles’ many visitors to pay their small share for the pavements they use.
While far from a perfect solution, particularly in its presumptuous call for residents to pony up for the city’s responsibility, the half-cent sales tax is our best bet in preventing Westwood from falling between the cracks during upcoming construction plans.
While alternate plans have been proposed, none manage to equitably distribute responsibility between the city and its pedestrians while ensuring real change. A potential solution championed by Donald Shoup, a UCLA professor of urban planning, would require property owners to fix their sidewalks before selling their property, a cost offset by the revenue from the sale of the property.
While this method has great advantages such as ensuring prompt sidewalk repair and allowing those who are paying for the work to see the result, it places the entire burden on the private property owner, despite the fact that sidewalks are used by all members of the public. Collectively, then, the sales tax option is the easiest on taxpayers’ wallets.
Westwood residents pay their taxes like all other L.A. residents do, and they deserve a little investment back from the city. Passing “Save Our Streets” will slowly but surely ensure that there are enough funds to go around without the city having to play favorites.
City council should take advantage of this rare occasion in which the problem has already been identified and agreed upon by residents.
On the residents’ part, “Save Our Streets” should not be viewed as just another burdensome tax, but as an investment in something that matters for every one of us.
City council and Angelenos can debate all they want about how and when to spend the current $30 million, but so long as our repair budget falls so restrictively short and the repair backlog keeps growing, the talk is cheap.
Email Lew at clew@media.ucla.edu or tweet her @ChloeLew8. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.