Tired of tripping on buckling sidewalks or driving over potholes? What about the untended trees, dropping weighty palm fronds and dead branches? Your future might hold a self-imposed tax enabling you and your neighbors to pay for road, sidewalk and street repair.

At a City Council meeting yesterday, Councilman Joe Buscaino proposed a plan which would allow residents to tax themselves to get those fixes done faster. It wouldn’t necessarily be city crews doing the work, but the city would find a contractor and facilitate the process.  The so-called “beautification assessment districts” could be the size of a city block and might pay a fee wrapped into their property taxes. The districts would be created by a neighborhood vote. Inspired by City Controller, Ron Galperin’s July report, the Bureau of Street Services was found to have dropped the ball in many ways, like poorly kept records and the non-collection of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Do you think your city block could build consensus to pay for street services so to get them done faster? Or, is your neighborhood more inclined to wait for the city to do its obligated work?

Guests:

Joe Buscaino, Councilman for the 15th District in Los Angeles, which includes San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway and Watts

Richard Close, President of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, the largest homeowners association in the city