Crumbling Sidewalks and Soaring Lawsuits: LA’s Broken Pavement Problem
A quiet Venice Beach morning took a dramatic turn for Lysa Cooper. As she strolled with her elderly dog, Sugar Ray Robinson, disaster struck. A lifted sidewalk panel, caused by a stubborn tree root, sent Cooper flying and shattered her arm. Even though Sugar Ray survived the initial heart attack, he passed away months later, leaving Cooper to grapple with her injuries and the stark reality of LA’s crumbling sidewalks.
Her experience wasn’t unique. Cooper’s story highlights a citywide crisis: crumbling sidewalks that pose hazards to residents and visitors, sparking costly lawsuits against the city itself.
Between 2019 and 2023, these sidewalk injury lawsuits cost Los Angeles a staggering $65 million, with one notable case leading to a $300,000 payout to Cooper.
“Fix them already,” she pleaded. “Why are you going to court over and over and over about the same f—ing hole?”
City Councilman Bob Blumenfield, chair of the budget and finance committee, admits the financial burden. Repairing all the city’s sidewalks, he says, would cost a gargantuan $2 billion over a decade.
“Way more than we could potentially even dream about as a city,” Blumenfield acknowledges.
This vast expense is compounded by the city’s own liability payouts. In just a few months, LA exhausted its entire budget for liability settlements this fiscal year, potentially leading to further cuts in infrastructure spending, including sidewalk repairs.
But the blame doesn’t solely lie with financial constraints, says UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup. He argues that a policy decision in the 1970s to start repairing sidewalks instead of leaving it to property owners essentially created a backlog of responsibility.
"Under the theory of no good deed goes unpunished, the more we fixed and did, the more it became an expectation." Blumenfield explains.
Adding to the strain, Proposition 13, passed in 1978, significantly reduced property taxes and shrank city budgets. As Shoup says, "The city didn’t have the money to pay for sidewalks, so the sidewalks have just decayed for 50 years.”
Shoup advocates for shifting responsibilities back to property owners. He proposes a system where banks provide loans for sidewalk repairs, with repayment occurring during the property’s sale.
"The median price of a single-family home in Los Angeles is $1.1 million," he points out. "So when they sell the house, they’re flush with cash, and they should be able to pay for their sidewalk repairs."
However, this solution faces potential roadblocks. It hinges on political will to impose burdens on property owners, potentially disproportionately affecting lower-income communities. Some experts also argue for a broader, more comprehensive solution.
Jessica Meaney, executive director of Investing in Place, a nonprofit group, emphasizes the need for a Capital Infrastructure Plan (CIP), a roadmap for coordinating all infrastructure projects, allocating resources, and ensuring long-term maintenance.
“I’ve been talking to people in D.C. and in Sacramento and other cities, and whenever I tell anyone the City of LA has no capital infrastructure plan, often people laugh," Meaney shares. "They’re just shocked."
A CIP, she emphasizes, can ensure not only repairs but also vital upgrades like accessible ramps, root removal and sidewalk widening for disabled individuals – efforts beyond the scope of individual property ownership.
Acknowledging the urgency, Mayor Karen Bass has taken initial steps towards a CIP, directing city staff to develop a multi-year investment plan and establishing a steering committee for interdepartmental coordination.
But implementation takes time, and as the city grapples with these long-term solutions, residents like Cooper face the consequences daily.
Back in Venice, Cooper gestured towards a warped sidewalk section resembling a chaotic skate ramp. “I tell all my little friends with their skateboards, come and do this street," she wryly remarks. "They have helmets on. They’re prepared to fall."
Tree roots lift the sidewalk past its breaking point on Kingsley Drive in Thai Town. Photo by Jack Ross.
