Fixing L.A.’s Sidewalk Program

L.A. Controller Ron Galperin released a new detailed report analyzing the city’s sidewalk repair program and urging sweeping changes to get more walkways fixed.
Controller Galperin found that less than 1% of the city’s sidewalks have been certified as repaired. When it fixes a sidewalk, the city replaces the entire parcel — far more than it is legally required to do — extending the cost and time to make than the repairs. In addition, the current priority is to fix sidewalks next to city-owned facilities, leaving out L.A.’s residential neighborhoods and commercial centers. Controller Galperin also determined that the city is responding slowly to simple repair requests.
Los Angeles lacked a comprehensive sidewalk repair program for nearly 50 years. That changed following the 2016 Willits settlement, when the city agreed to spend $1.37 billion over 30 years to address broken sidewalks, inaccessible curb ramps and other barriers in the pedestrian public right-of-way. That year, the City Council also adopted a “fix and release” policy, allowing L.A. to repair broken sidewalks and then issue a certificate of compliance, along with a limited warranty to the adjacent property owner for the repair. After that, the city can enforce the owner’s duty to maintain the sidewalk on their private property.
Along with the report, Controller Galperin created an interactive dashboard that maps 50,000+ sidewalk repair requests over the past six years. Users can view the requests by Council District or Neighborhood Council.