Whose fault?
Responsibility for sidewalk maintenance and repair falls to property owners in Seattle. Snow must be shoveled, vegetation removed, bumps leveled and cracks repaired by whoever owns the abutting property.
Not all homeowners are aware of this obligation. If they don’t fulfill it, there is little recourse for the city due to the arduous state-imposed process cities need to follow to recoup costs from property owners, which gives the owners little incentive to make fixes themselves, the report concluded.
A large proportion of Seattle sidewalks –- between 80% and 85%, the report estimates – fall under this category: the responsibility of a private owner.
“I know so many folks who use power chairs to get around, who exclusively ride in the street, because the sidewalks are in such bad shape,” said Clark Matthews, a creative producer for Disability Rights Washington's Rooted in Rights team and wheelchair user himself.
Last year, Matthews took a nasty spill along a stretch of Rainier Avenue, going between his apartment and a grocery store. An uplift in the sidewalk that was filled in left a steep incline, causing Matthews to tip over, hit his head and roll into the street, scattering his groceries into the road.
He now crosses the street to avoid that section.
“All it takes is one panel of the sidewalk to be completely unusable, the whole area becomes unusable,” said Matthews.
City Councilmember Andrew Lewis petitioned for an audit of city sidewalks after hearing from constituents that requests for sidewalk repairs often weren’t getting addressed.
“I requested an audit, because frankly I haven’t really seen that we are putting the resources into sidewalk repair, replacement and expansion that we should be. ... I’m hoping that the audit will lead to sidewalks being a bigger budget priority for the Council,” Lewis said. “I don’t think there is anything more fundamental than basic city infrastructure like sidewalks.”
The city either needs to take on responsibility for maintaining the entire network of sidewalks, Lewis added, or there needs to be an effective way to get property owners to meet their obligations.
To increase compliance with state and city sidewalk law, the audit recommends the city consider implementing a Buy, Sell, Repair Ordinance, requiring owners to bring sidewalks into compliance before a property is sold. Oakland, California, implemented a similar law in 2019, requiring that sidewalks be inspected by a contractor and repaired if necessary before a title transfer of property, the report cited. The city reported a 62% increase in repairs to private sidewalks the year following the new ordinance.
Recognizing that for some Seattle homeowners replacing a few feet of sidewalk is unaffordable, the audit also recommends implementing a cost-sharing program for low-income households.
In a letter in response to the audit, the Seattle Department of Transportation said the agency needs an additional $3 million to $4 million per year to implement a five-year maintenance plan. The additional funding would constitute more than doubling the typically yearly sidewalk repair budget of $1.4 million.
The agency can bevel about 700 sidewalk segments per year, a semi-permanent repair that grinds down the edge of a sidewalk so the two sections better match in height. In the 2017 survey, SDOT identified roughly 93,000 vertical height differences and 20,000 obstructions – both vegetation and permanent obstacles blocking the sidewalk system.
"many" - Google News
November 16, 2021 at 08:03PM
https://ift.tt/3CleaSz
Why so many Seattle sidewalks are in bad shape - Crosscut
"many" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OYUfnl
https://ift.tt/3f9EULr
No comments:
Post a Comment