At the February 5, 2013 Board Meeting, Councilmember Englander made the case for the proposed $3 billion street repair bond, explaining that a bond is the only way that the 8,700 lane miles of damaged streets could be repaired. He noted that when this idea was considered 10 years ago, the cost was $1.5 billion and if nothing is done, the cost will likely be $6 billion ten years from now, in addition to the cost that each Angeleno is paying for the additional wear and tear put on their car by bad roads.
He outlined the following street repair techniques:
- Slurry seal the top coat. By regularly slurry sealing a top coat every 5-7 years, a street can last for 30 years. This technique can triple the life of a street. The city uses slurry seal for streets in A, B, & C condition. It costs $26,000/mile.
- Remove the top layer of the street and replace it. This costs $325,000/mile
- For failed streets that require the subsurface to be repaired, complete removal, repacking soil and street reconstruction. This costs $600,000/mile.
In 2003 all streets were inventoried and their condition evaluated. The city has a total of 28,000 lane miles of streets, enough to drive all the way around the earth. The city has fully funded the street slurry program since 2005, whereby good condition streets are slurried every seven years.
Englander addressed concerns about how we got here: Street repair was been insufficiently funded from 1950-1990. The current budget of $3million allocates 70% to public safety, leaving insufficient funds to make a dent in failed streets.
What about the gas tax? The gas tax was supposed to fund street repair. However, it is based on the number of gallons purchased, not on the price per gallon. While we pay more at the pump, people are actually buying less gas and the gas tax is a depleting revenue stream. Further, the State of California has been keeping the city's gas tax funds.
How would it work? The proposed bond would create 30,000 jobs in Los Angeles, through a loca hire ordinance, bringing revenue to the city. The work would be done by a public/private partnership, not city employees. It would reengineer intersections and crosswalks and ensure street maintenance in perpetuity.
In a discussion with the UCLA Anderson School of Management, they recommended that the time was ripe for this endeavor with the lowest interest rates in 40 years. This constitutes smart debt. The general obligation bond would borrow $300 million per year for the first 10 years during which the work is done. The debt would be paid off over 29 years. Englander specified that the plan is conservative and doesn't take into consideration the receipt of any federal funds (which are likely), or any economies of scale (which are anticipated as the work would be done regionally).
Attendees questioned how long it would cost to pay back the bonds and how much property owners would have to pay annually. One suggestion was to include sidewalk repair in this proposal. Englander commented that we can't legally bond for sidewalks at this time, because we don't have an inventory of damaged sidewalks. Many stakeholders were able to weigh in on the plan and voice their concerns directly to the Councilmember. For more details about the street repair proposal please see the project website.
Finally, Englander clarified that the proposal is being discussed citywide and would not be on a ballot until June or November 2014, at which time we will have a new mayor and many new members of city council.
LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich was the second guest speaker explaining how he saved the city money handling 7,000 cases while balancing his budget and his staff taking 36 furlough days a year. He has not hired anyone and has reduced his staff by 150. However, he is still required to respond to every case. He has tackled this thorny problem through the Reserve Deputy City Attorney Program which put law graduates to work as unpaid interns for six months while they gained experience trying ten cases. They garnered an 87% conviction rate.
He spoke about the effectiveness of gang injunctions, particularly in reducing drug dealing in skid row. The LAPD is now using license plate readers in skid row to help identify those gang members who have come to skid row specifically to sell drugs. He invited all comers to walk skid row the first Wednesday of the month at 6pm with him.
The City Attorney has taken Deutche Bank, US Bank and other banks to task for not properly maintaining their foreclosed properties, which has a negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
Trutanich summarized his statistics: 149 cases tried, 137 won, $250 million in savings to Los Angeles taxpayers. He described his approach as a "porcupine defense: you may eat me, but it's not going to taste good going down."
