Politics & Government

Does Your Road Need Repair? Bring it Up in Van Nuys on April 16

A public discussion is set for 6 p.m. on at the Van Nuys City Hall.

Have some deterioriating streets? Talk about it locally on April 16 at a public hearing.

City Councilman Joe Buscaino said Monday he will host a series of hearings this month to get input from the public on a proposed $3 billion bond measure to repair 8,700 miles of deteriorating city streets over a period of 10 years.

Buscaino and Councilman Mitch Englander tried in January to get their colleagues to place a measure on the May 21 ballot to ask voters to approve the bond, but backed off after Council President Herb Wesson said not enough public outreach had been done.

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Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, which is tasked with representing residents' interests on budget and fiscal issues, also voted 13-1 to oppose the bond measure.

Jay Handal, the committee's chairman, said they had only 24 hours notice to weigh in on a $3 billion bond proposal.

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"Our message to the council is, 'Grow up boys and girls, and include us,"' Handal said in January.

The proposed bond would mean an additional $119 per year in taxes for property owners over the 29 years it would take to pay back the bond.

Buscaino and Englander argued at the time that improved street conditions would save drivers an estimated $744 a year in vehicle maintenance costs.

Bureau of Street Services Director Nazario Saucedo told the City Council in January that all "failed" city streets would be fixed in 10 years if a bond measure is approved. He said the city stopped repairing the city's worst streets in order to direct more resources to maintain streets that are in good condition and worth saving.

In a letter addressed today to the city's 95 neighborhood councils, Buscaino, who chairs the council's Public Works Committee, said under-funding street maintenance between the 1950s and 1990s led to the poor condition of city streets.

"We can no longer afford to ignore this problem -- the longer we wait to address it, the more costly it becomes to fix," he wrote.

The hearings kick off on Wednesday during a 6 p.m. Public Works Committee meeting at City Hall.

Hearings are also scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on the following dates and locations:

-- April 8 in the Harbor area at the Port of Los Angeles Administration Building at 425 S. Palos Verdes St.;

-- April 16 at Van Nuys City Hall, 14410 Sylvan St.; and

-- April 23 at the West Los Angeles Municipal Building, 1645 Corinth Ave.

Locations have not yet been set for hearings in South Los Angeles on April 25, and on the Eastside on April 30.


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