Let's Talk Sidewalks

There's a really bad spot on the west side of Hope street between 11th and 12 Street across the street from the new Luma development. Tree root growth has uprooted the concrete, creating a jagged bump that literally rises six inches, higher than a standard curb height. It's a sprained ankle (or much worse) waiting to happen.

Walk up Crenshaw anywhere north of Pico. Not that this area is a particularly highly pedestrian area but the sidewalks are the smallest I've seen in Los Angeles and they tend to plop down fire hydrants and phone poles right in the middle of them. Plus they're not very well maintained making them even more hazardous to walk on. And when I say small I mean like too small for a bike to ride on. One person in a row kind of small.

There is a particularly bad stretch of sidewalk on the west side of the street on Hope just south of 11th. I know because I live at Elleven and I walk my dog on this stretch of root uplifted concrete.

The city should force (or entice) developers to fix sidewalks in front of buildings that are being converted to lofts or being built from the ground up -- and by "entice," that means they could be doing that in lieu of other transportation improvement funds like street widening.

I'm also surprised at the "patchwork" look of most of Downtown's sidewalks, where some may be granite, others concrete, and so on. The sidewalks in front of the theaters on Broadway are cool though.

I noticed the Eastern Building is doing just that. They are replacing portions of the sidewalk in front of their property.

The east side of Hope Street b/w 8th and 9th is cracked all up and right across from the new pedestrian-friendly Ralphs. The south side of 8th b/w Grand and Olive is particularly bad - there's a mountain in the sidewalk there. Olive b/w Olymipc and 11th is also bad, though a little off the beaten path.
Doesn't the DLANC have money/grants? Could they put money into repairs? We should focus on the busier streets where the most pedestrian activity is happening and sidewalks that connect such areas.

Once again, I rail against the stupid ficus trees. Most of these up-ended concrete blocks are due to the huge roots of the trees growing out of control.

One more time: I don't mind trees. I think trees in downtown are good. But after they reach a certain height, they are just too darn big for an urban setting. They block out too much light (at night; don't we want people walking around, going to nightclubs and bars at night? I thought we did), and they destroy the sidewalks. After they get more than 15-20 feet tall, they should be harvested. That is, cut down and replaced with young trees that are less hazardous.

I recall reading a few years back that NYC has a community of mapmakers who design maps for the blind, "showing" areas that could be hazardous for the sight impaired. I'd imagine that if there was such a group in LA, they could help in this sidewalk repair prioritization. Good luck!

Scott...

Again, I'm with you on that. Another problem with Downtown sidewalks is the shoddy job many construction crews do when putting in or replacing underground utility lines. There are gazillions of crappy asphalt patches that either erode away, bulge up or simply slough off constantly. Crews should be required to repair sidewalks section by section with like materials, meeting ADA standards and with an eye toward maintaining the aesthetics (where there are any...) of the existing sidewalks. One of the nicest things about Manhattan (at least Midtown) is the real good sidewalks in most places. Downtown should make investment in sidewalks a high priority, as I mentioned in a post a week ago about street trees. After all, sidewalks are the most intimate part of a city's public environment.

I may be biased, but the worst sidewalks in my opinion are along Maple between 8th and 7th. I've cut myself stepping into a pothole on 2 occasions and my girlfriend bruised herself pretty bad as well in the same place. That particular pothole has since been filled in twice but the rest of the sidewalks are a mess of broken concrete and there aren't even any trees either...

How's this effort going? I suspect ultimately a systemic effort to map the state of downtown's sidewalks will have to be undertaken. A thankless task for sure which will definitely cost real money to complete. But, at the end of the day, every inch of downtown's sidewalks ought to be graded as to their state so that some kind of logical plan of action can be undertaken. Anecdotal evidence, while helpful, will be insufficient.

I'd also point out that recently I was in downtown Montebello to pick up a cake. (April's Cakes, if you need to know. Yes, it is worth the drive.) Now downtown Montebello is not the most happening place. I'd dare say it is pretty dumpy. However, color me impressed with their recent upgrade of the sidewalks. It really classes up the place. The city replaced the sidewalks, landscaped them with new street lights, trees and curbs to make street parking more friendly. They tossed in some nifty signage. All in all, very classy. There's still nothing going on in downtown Montebello. But, the quality of the effort is impressive and is something to be emulated here in downtown.

Furthermore, I don't think we should get in line and wait 82 years to get our sidewalks repaired. That fact screams broken process. It should be repeated widely and loudly to embarass the municipal authories until the sidewalk repair process for the city is overhauled.

Hmmm. Remember the so-called "peace dividend" that was supposed to help fund every sort of public improvement program???

It starts at the ballot box, continues at City Hall and ends with a serious investment in our everyday quality of life here.

The world will never be a totally safe place, and we'll never be truly insulated from the problems we share in as human be-inns, so IMHO, we need to get real with what it takes to adequately protect ourselves, and then roll the largesse into things like fixing sidewalks, schools and building programs that really work in partnership with people who want to build their lives.