SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego will spend up to $100 million over the next decade to repair more than 80,000 city sidewalks to stem a recent tide of injury payouts, according to a newspaper report Thursday.
Because repairing sidewalks is the legal responsibility of adjacent property owners, city officials had previously considered property liens and education campaigns to encourage more effort by homeowners, according to the Union-Tribune
But after being forced to pay more than $11 million for injury lawsuits over the last five years, the city decided it would make the repairs.
A 2015 assessment found 108,706 sidewalks needed fixing. Just over 27,000 of those repairs have since been completed, leaving 81,000 more — plus any new problems that have come up, the newspaper said.
In conjunction with the aggressive push, officials revealed additional proposals that would encourage more property owners to complete the repairs — either by themselves or in conjunction with the city.
The city paid $4.85 million to resident Clifford Brown for a crash in which he tore spinal cord ligaments when he crashed his bike on a tree-damaged sidewalk.
In another notable suit, a jury awarded Cynthia Hedgecock, the wife of former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock, nearly $85,000 for ruptured breast implants she suffered during a sidewalk fall.
