Councilmember's $250K Sidewalk Repair Program Begins In Highland Park
HIGHLAND PARK (CBSLA.com) — Crews were paving the way for safer sidewalks Tuesday as they poured concrete in Highland Park.
As part of Councilmember Jose Huizar's $250,000 sidewalk repair program, walkway repairs began at 9 a.m. outside Highland Park Senior Center, 6152 N. Figueroa St.
"We need cleaner neighborhoods and sidewalks we can comfortably walk on," Huizar said.
The repairs were a welcome sight to residents, as the sidewalks had been buckled and broken due to overgrown trees.
"The kids would use them as a skate park up and down up and down," resident Rosa Rivas said.
Los Angeles City Councilmembers unanimously approved in March Huizar's program's funding, which was transferred from a discretionary recycling account, to aid in the immediate repair of the sidewalks in Council District 14.
The program is a part of Huizar's Clean Communities Initiative, a comprehensive plan to fix the district's worst sidewalks, plant and maintain new trees, fund illegal dumping surveillance cameras, trim trees, increase graffiti removal and community cleanup crew services.
He allocated $500,000 in discretionary funds to combine with existing City funded services to support the $1.5 million initiative.
"We are moving in a direction make people feel safer in our communities," he said.
The City Council recently proposed a "Save Our Streets" half-cent sales tax, which they say would generate $4.5 billion over the life of the increase, with $3.86 billion going towards fixing damaged streets and $640 million going towards repairing sidewalks throughout the city.
If endorsed by the City Council and approved by voters in November, the city's sales tax would be raised to 9.5 percent.
In his 2014-2015 budget proposal, Mayor Eric Garcetti also called for $20 million to be allocated to sidewalk repairs.
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