N環球 
Los Angeles' $1.37B Sidewalk Promise Under Strain: Nearly 5,000 Repair Requests Backlogged as City Enters Mediation
Ten years into the 30-year, roughly $1.37 billion Willits sidewalk settlement — the largest disability-access class settlement in U.S. history — the city and the monitoring lawyers are in regular mediation over alleged breaches, LAist reported Thursday via LA Patriot. Nearly 5,000 access requests were pending as of Oct. 21.
Why it matters
In August 2016 a federal judge approved the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement: the city committed roughly $1.37 billion over 30 years to fix sidewalks and build curb ramps, described by plaintiffs' counsel as the largest disability-access class settlement in American history. Ten years in, LAist reported Thursday (via LA Patriot, Oct. 23) that the city and the lawyers monitoring the deal are in regular mediation over claims Los Angeles is breaching it — the promise is back on the negotiating table.
Details
An LAist analysis of Bureau of Engineering data found nearly 5,000 pending access requests as of Oct. 21, not counting complaints filed through 311; since 2016 the city has completed about 1,750 repairs under the program. The monitoring attorneys have met with city officials nearly every month since the start of 2026. Plaintiffs' lawyer Guy Wallace said in an email the talks stem from the city's repeated breaches; monitor Paula Pearlman said her group is concerned about the repair backlog and the slow pace of curb-ramp installation during street resurfacing. If mediation fails, the settlement lets the lawyers ask the court to settle the disputes.
The city's defense: it is spending what the settlement requires — a floor of about $31 million a year, adjusted for inflation every five years, with nearly $36 million in the current budget. Mayor Karen Bass's office said the city is "continuing in good faith legal negotiations" and has met the requirement every year she has been in office. But the city concedes, in a document LAist obtained, that the money is not enough to clear the citywide backlog of broken sidewalks. The Bureau of Engineering says requests arrive faster than each year's resources; the highest-priority fixes take one to five years, lower-priority requests up to a decade.
City Hall was warned before. A November 2021 audit by then-Controller Ron Galperin found about 50,000 reported problems unaddressed, compliance certificates covering under 1% of the city's 640,000 sidewalk parcels, and 41 days for the most basic sidewalk fix versus three days to fill a pothole. Over five fiscal years his office counted more than 1,700 injury claims and 1,020 lawsuits tied to sidewalks, with over $35 million in payouts. The city has now LIDAR-mapped a third of its pedestrian network, including areas near 2028 Olympic venues, and the budget carries $10 million to finish the scan.
Sources
LA Patriot (2026-10-23, citing LAist Thursday reporting); Willits settlement terms (corada.com); Greater Valley Glen Council (settlement summary); KFI AM 640 (2021-11-17, Galperin audit).
💬 Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!