Tag Archives: sidewalks

robots and sidewalks

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We’re starting to see those Uber Eats robots on the sidewalks here, and they are spurring some renewed interest in the poor state of the city’s sidewalks. Now, I am surprised they don’t just design the things with bigger tires, as many parents have figured out that a “jogging stroller” can navigate our decrepit streets much better than a stroller with small tires designed for a fully ADA-compliant mall.

Anyway, since sidewalks here are the legal responsibility of private property owners, it occurs to me that Uber could start suing people if they wanted. It seems they would have a valid argument of economic damages. And trip-and-fall lawsuits, or the threat thereof, are a primary motivator of the sidewalk repairs that do happen, as this article in The Philadelphia Citizen points out.

But other cities have figured out better ways, which the article has a nice run-down of:

The 2022 ordinance enabled a straightforward deal: The City of Denver assumed all responsibility for sidewalks in exchange for property owners’ financial support. Denver began collecting a $150 annual fee from property owners and putting it towards citywide sidewalk maintenance. Last summer, Denver announced $75 million in repairs and construction from that fund.

Denver is a bold example, but it’s not alone. In many cities, residents don’t have to shoulder the full burden of sidewalk repairs. Chicago has a popular “shared cost sidewalk program” that has been running for decades and uses City resources to incentivize property owners to repair pedestrian walkways. Citizens pay a maximum of $2,400 — and typically around $1,000 — to participate, costs which are comparable to what a private contractor would charge. Cities like San Jose, NM and Memphis, TN have similar shared-cost programs.

And then there’s Washington, D.C., where a 6-year, $115 million effort to improve sidewalks is underway. The local government established a goal of building 8 miles of new sidewalks each year and repairing up to 40 miles of existing ones — work that aims to satisfy both the Vision Zero initiative and the Office of Disability Rights’ Olmstead Plan. In D.C., the land between a property and the curb is publicly owned, making it easier for the government to intervene. But the decision to prioritize sidewalks and enact a cohesive plan are actions that every city could seek to emulate.

Of course, people hate new taxes, and are only partially fooled by not-even-tax-deductible taxes disguised as service charges and fees. There’s also a complex issue this article doesn’t go into, which is that by making private property owners legally responsible for obviously public sidewalks, the city also makes them legally responsible for arguably public infrastructure underneath such as water, sewer, and gas pipes. But the point is that these programs solve a problem and give us value back in a more efficient manner than the non-system we have now.

cities need to take over sidewalks

This article is about Denver taking over responsibility for sidewalks, rather than just putting this burden on private property owners. Sidewalks may seem like a wonky fringe issue but they are a big key to being able to implement green infrastructure effectively in cities. There are a few reasons for this. First, they are where the street trees are going to be, and street trees are a big part of the solution to urban heat and a smaller but significant part of the solution to water quality and flooding. Second, streets and sidewalks together make up a surprising portion (I’ve estimated around 40% in my city) of the pavement in a city. Curb and storm inlet design are key to how well and how fast all this pavement drains. This is because the sidewalk is attached to the curb, and the curb is attached to the gutter, and the gutter is attached to the inlet that drains the street – pretty obvious when you think about it right? But when private owners are responsible for sidewalks, those curbs that are so critical to channeling the water often aren’t built and maintained right. Finally, depending on how wide sidewalks are, they often are where there may be room for rain gardens and pollinator gardens, for cities and neighborhoods that want these things (most do in the abstract, but there has to be a good plan for taking care of them long term and they need to not be in the way.)

That’s the environment – obviously sidewalks are where people walk, roll on wheelchairs, push baby strollers, and hobble on crutches. Sometimes people ride bikes on them, particularly children and particularly when there are not safe or adequately maintained bike lanes. They need to be in good condition for all these people.

Speaking of bike lanes, then there is the whole world of bike lanes (which we should probably think of as light low-speed vehicle lanes), curb management, bus stops, delivery and contractor zones, taxi and ride share stands, street parking, and electric vehicle charging, not to mention all the other “street furniture” like trash cans, bike racks, and mailboxes. Design and maintenance of the sidewalk and curb impacts all these public uses and it makes no sense to put that burden on private landowners.

So where did Denver find the money to take on this new responsibility? Well, they are charging the private landowners by bundling the cost into an existing stormwater management fee. This makes sense because ultimately the city including the homeowners will get better and more cost-effective public infrastructure. But of course, I am well aware of the political law of gravity that PEOPLE HATE TAXES. No, I don’t have an easy answer on how to solve this one. Another thing people really hate though is the local code enforcement agency coming down on residential and small business owners on a piecemeal basis, especially for what many logically view as public infrastructure. So to summarize, there are three options – (1) enforce sidewalk codes on private property owners, (2) leave sidewalk codes unenforced and sidewalks in poor condition, except for maybe a few piecemeal complaint-driven enforcement actions, or (3) raise revenue through taxes or fees so the same public agencies maintaining the streets can maintain the sidewalks.

I’ll mention one final wrinkle though. Under sidewalks, there is typically a tangle of water pipes, sewer pipes, natural gas lines, and sometimes buried electric/communications lines that connect houses to public infrastructure under the street. So if a city “takes over the sidewalks”, it has to also figure out if it going to consider all this public or private infrastructure. For example, if a water pipe connecting the main under the street to a house is private, and the sidewalk is public, and that water pipe springs a leak, the sidewalk has to get dug up to replace the water pipe, and then the sidewalk has to get replaced. So it has to be clear who ends up paying for that or whether the cost will be shared. One thing homeowners hate and fear probably even more than taxes (me included) is large unexpected expenses.

Ha ha, did I say I was going to do some short posts?

solar sidewalks

At first I thought this article was called Tampa tries sidewalk solar panels as backup power for traffic, but then I noticed it is just for traffic lights. This seems a bit underwhelming, but it’s something. Here in Philadelphia, the instant response to any idea involving sidewalks will be “yeah, but they’re private”. It’s a convenient excuse, just put the legal/financial responsibility for half the transportation system on the backs of private property owners and pretend that’s working. People can’t actually afford to maintain the sidewalks, and the government mostly doesn’t enforce the ordinance because that would be very bad politics. So aside from the occasional successful lawsuit, we get unmaintained sidewalks. So maybe if the sidewalks could generate a bit of revenue to help pay for their own maintenance, this could be a step forward. Just a thought – let the chorus of “yeah but” begin.