San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
NEIGHBORS
The improvements paid for with maintenance assessment district funding must go beyond services already provided by the city, city spokesman Tim Graham said.
“Sidewalk improvements may be eligible for MAD funding, but the community would need to confer with city staff to determine the project’s eligibility and compliance with local and state and local laws,” he said in an email Thursday.
Generally, the responsibility for building new sidewalks falls on property owners and developers, said Anthony Santacroce, another city spokesman.
Santacroce said it would be speculative to say how much building new sidewalks might cost because it depends on variables such as location, environmental review, permitting and soil condition.
Replacing and repairing a sidewalk, however, costs an average of $18 to $25 per square foot, depending if there is a tree, he said.
The reason some neighborhoods have sidewalks and others don’t is related to when the area was originally developed, said Bruce Appleyard, an urban planning professor at San Diego State University.
“Back in the ’50s and ’60s, developers would argue away the need for sidewalks ... it was an added cost,” Appleyard said.
Therefore it’s not unusual to see communities with discontinuous sidewalks, he said, which creates greater dependency on cars and impacts people’s well-being. It can also affect property values, he said.
In the case of Paradise Hills, an older and urbanized community, the streets were subdivided before improvements were required as part of the development process, city officials said.
Although Paradise Hill’s approach is unique, and proponents are looking forward to bringing it to fruition, Roesler said, it’s ridiculous that residents have to tax themselves to get basic infrastructure. “It’s the only way it seems we are going to get something for our community,” Roesler said.
Could a similar approach work in other communities?
Pedestrian-safety advocates say sidewalks are crucial for a neighborhood’s walkability and well-being, yet many areas lack that basic infrastructure.
The city of San Diego completed an inventory of its more than 5,000 miles of sidewalks and its nonexistent sidewalks in 2015. The study found that 650 miles of streets are missing sidewalks.
About 29 percent of them are in City Council District 1, which includes the neighborhoods of La Jolla, Carmel Valley, University City and Torrey Pines. Most of the missing sidewalks are in the hilly areas of La Jolla.
That’s followed by council districts 9 and 4 which include some of the city’s most diverse and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in southeastern San Diego and Mid-city, at 18 and 14 percent respectively. Sidewalks also are missing from nearly 14 percent of streets in Council District 8 in south San Diego.
There are differences, however, in how lack of infrastructure impacts residents in those areas because there is a social-equity component to the discrepancies, Appleyard said.
The lack of sidewalks make it so communities of color are overburdened by auto dependency because it’s not safe to walk, Appleyard said, which affects the area’s social cohesion and health.
Belinda Appleyard, who is married to Bruce, advocates for pedestrian safety in their neighborhood of Mission Hills. She said it’s ridiculous that southeastern San Diego neighborhoods, which already face a lot of inequity, have to resort to a tax on residents.
“It’s so sad that to get sidewalks these folks have to resort to making a neighborhood tax to get basic infrastructure to keep themselves safe and healthy,” she said.
Although Roesler agrees that the burden of building sidewalks shouldn’t fall on community members, if it’s worth it to residents to create a tax district, then that’s one way to address the problem.
City staff is in the process of evaluating the cost and proposed boundaries. Once that is complete, the property owners in the district will have an opportunity to vote to approve or reject the assessment.
Aside from the sidewalks, the Paradise Hills MAD would also pay for upkeep such as removing graffiti, litter and weeds, and install a neighborhood sign.
“I want neighbors to feel proud and say, ‘that’s my neighborhood,’” Moreno said.