Hill, River Streets Are Most Likely to Need Some of $3 Billion Proposed Bond

The Los Angeles City Council has delayed action to put a $3 billion street repair bond issue on the May ballot.

But it is still fun to ponder just  which streets would be in line for repair in Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz if it ever passed.

A look at one of the six maps above will help you find your street. Each represents the conditions in one of six neighborhood council districts covered by Echo Park-Silver Lake Patch: Greater Echo Park Elysian Heights, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, Greater Griffith Park, Rampart Village and the Elysian Valley Riverside.

In general, hilly neighborhoods were mostly likely to be in "poor to failed" condition, no matter which neighborhood council district they fell within.

That is true for many streets in the hills above Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Feliz, above Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake and above the 5 Freeway in Echo Park and Silver Lake.

A number of the streets near the Los Angeles River, in both Atwater Village, Silver Lake and the Elysian Valley also were also considered in fair to poor condition.

Los Angeles is more than 60 years behind in necessary street repairs, according to Councilmen Mitch Englander and Joe Buscaino, who are proposing the bond issue.

If approved, owners of a $350,000 home would pay $119 per year in added property taxes over the course of the 29 years it would take the city to pay off the debt. The tax on a property's assessed value would start low and increase as the city borrows more heavily to fund the street repairs, with the rate eventually declining as the city stops borrowing more money. A two-thirds popular vote would be needed for it to pass.

The delay came at the urging of Neighborhood Councils who bemoaned the lack of advance notice and discussion about the bond issue. It was announced last Friday in order to meet a Jan. 30 ballot deadline. And City Council President Herb Wesson Wednesday agreed that the plan lacked public outreach to gain support from the city's 95 Neighborhood Councils.

A website has been launched to explain the need for the bond issue. Click here for an overview of Neighborhood Council street assessments undertaken by the Bureau of Street Services.

Englander and Buscaino say the bond measure is necessary because the city cannot afford on its own the estimated $300 million annual cost to fix some 8,700 lane-miles of damaged streets. The city budget for the current fiscal year is running a deficit and legislators will be tasked with closing an estimated $216-million budget hole for the fiscal year that starts in July.

For more information, see:

• Effort to Repair L.A.'s Crumbling Streets Hits Speed Bump
• City Council Delays Action on $3 Billion Road Repair Bond
• $3 Billion Los Angeles Street Repair Bond Issue Proposed
• 2011 State of the Streets Report
• Los Angeles Emergency Local Street Safety and Traffic Improvement Measure

— City News Service contributed to this report.