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When I wrote last week about one of my favorite mountain ranges — L.A.‘s sidewalks — I immediately began fielding questions.People wanted to know about the scoring system that awarded just 15 points, out of 45, to John Coanda and his wife, Barbara, who uses a wheelchair because of ALS.The Mar Vista couple had applied to the city’s Safe Sidewalks program to have some busted-up sidewalk in front of their home repaired.With several sidewalk hazards on both sides of their block, Barbara can’t safely make it down her street.
So how is it possible that under L.A.’s “Sidewalk Repair Program Prioritization and Scoring System,” their meager 15 points means they could be waiting “in excess of 10 years” for help?I have the answers.The Coandas got 15 points for being in a residential zone.But they didn’t meet the requirements for getting two additional awards of 15 points.
They do not live within 500 feet of a bus or transit stop.And they had not been in the sidewalk repair backlog queue for more than 120 days.
It is not clear, however, that moving up to a score of 30 will bring out city work crews in less than 10 years.Knowing what I know, I wouldn’t bet on it.The scoring system exists because in a lawsuit settlement 10 years ago, the city agreed to spend $1.4 billion over 30 years to repair damaged sidewalks and other infrastructure failures that impede the mobility of people with disabilities.But there’s a backlog.
A huge backlog, in the thousands.At my request, the city disclosed on Friday that it’s receiving about twice as many new disability-access repair requests each year as it’s addressing.
In addition, the backlog for disability access requests and from residents applying for a sidewalk repair rebate program stands at roughly 30,000, with about 600 repairs being made each year.L.A.streets are broken, and mayoral debates aren’t what they’re cra...