In the next several weeks, the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (BOE) will be begin the environmental review process for the proposed Sidewalk Repair Program.
The sidewalk repair program is the result of a settlement of lawsuit brought over five years ago.  Over the next 30 years, the City has committed to spend over $1.4 billion on sidewalk repairs through the program known as Safe Sidewalks LA to make the City more pedestrian safe and compliant with applicable accessibility requirements covering thousands of miles of city sidewalks.
The program calls for removal and replace of street trees which has caused some concern among local residents. The environmental review process provides an opportunity for residents to learn more and express their concerns at the public scoping meetings scheduled to be held in August.
“Street trees is a topic that will be discussed in the study,” Mary Nemick, Director of Communications for the Bureau of Engineering Department of Public Works told the Buzz. “It has been determined that that is one of the elements we need to look at closely.”
“Scoping meetings like this are a chance for the public to learn more about the environmental review process the City is doing for a particular program,” added Nemick. Â “The Scoping meetings are a chance for people to give suggestions on scope, make comments, express concerns etc. The comments are all legally transcribed and become part of the legal record. They are also the basis for the team to know what to study, what else needs to be looked at and really help to guide us as we move through the EIR process. So these are very important meetings for the community to come and tell us what they think we need to study and look at throughout the process.”
The closest meeting is Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 at the  Ronald F. Deaton Civic Auditorium at 100 W 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Other meetings are planned for:
Monday, August 14th, 2017
Mid-Valley Senior Citizen Center
8825 Kester Avenue, Panorama City, CA 91402
Event time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Westchester Senior Citizen Center
8740 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Event time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
You can submit comments online at the following link: http://sidewalks.lacity.commentinput.com/. Please be sure to include your contact information. You may also upload documents when submitting a comment. The comment period ends September 15, 2017.
