Lopez: For all the chatter by mayoral candidates, can anyone fix L.A.'s enduring problems? - BERITAJA

I’m going to commencement this communicative connected a quiet tree-lined thoroughfare successful Mar Vista, wherever a mates I met pinch connected Thursday — the time aft the L.A. mayoral statement — person a problem.

It’s not an different matter, arsenic things spell successful Los Angeles. On some sides of the street, the sidewalk rises and falls, uprooted and cracked by shallow roots because complete galore decades, the trees were not decently maintained.

John Coanda, 61, who grew up successful Los Angeles, was ne'er bothered by torn-up sidewalks arsenic a kid.

“In fact,” he said erstwhile he first emailed maine about his predicament, “my friends and I sometimes utilized the ramping pavement arsenic jumps for our bicycles.”

But his wife, Barbara, was diagnosed successful 2024 pinch ALS, and she uses a wheelchair. When John pushes her, they can’t usage the sidewalk if they want to spell to the shop aliases meet pinch friends, aliases conscionable bask a bully walk done the vicinity without getting into a vehicle.

So John pushes Barbara’s wheelchair successful the street, which creates an evident information problem. And contempt John’s champion efforts to get City Hall to hole the sidewalks, he’s not expecting thief anytime soon.

I’ll circle backmost to this communicative successful a bit, but first, about that debate.

I recruited a half-dozen L.A. residents to watch and nonstop maine their thoughts about really the candidates tackled the important issues. And past I felt blameworthy for having done so, because the candidates didn’t do overmuch tackling astatine all.

Candidate Spencer Pratt is shown connected a tv while journalists activity during the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral statement astatine Skirball Cultural Center.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

They deed their talking points, for sure, and Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Nithya Raman and TV characteristic Spencer Pratt each had their moments. But by the extremity of the debate, and 2 consecutive nights of gubernatorial debates arsenic well, I came distant reasoning location were nary clear winners, but location was a definite loser.

Voters.

This is the responsibility of the format much than of the candidates themselves. The platform is stacked against meaningful, substantive discussions, particularly erstwhile moderators inquire — arsenic they did respective times — for one-word answers.

“Moderator questions are truthful meaningless … and they make it easy for candidates to return potshots astatine each other,” said longtime governmental sage Darry Sragow. “The format is guaranteed to elicit thing that matters.”

It’d beryllium amended to person single-issue debates, and to person candidates pressed for specifications by journalists who screen those issues and could push backmost against unrealistic promises and expose a deficiency of depth.

My statement watchers did immoderate of that themselves. CSUN librarian Yi Ding had praise and disapproval for each candidate, but was looking for actual plans and didn’t get many.

Ding was besides disappointed that 2 different mayoral candidates — Ray Huang and Adam Miller — were not invited to the debate, and I work together pinch her. Both person been polling low, but pinch truthful galore undecided voters, and specified precocious unfavorability ratings for Bass, they should person been successful the mix.

Mike Washington, a retired pharmacist and West Adams resident, said Bass has done amended than erstwhile mayors connected homelessness and he didn’t deliberation Raman aliases Pratt came disconnected arsenic worthy of bumping her retired of City Hall.

“The nationalist would person benefited from much questions related to the challenges young group are facing,” said Juan Solorio Jr., president of the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats club. His workfellow David Ramirez agreed, saying he was hoping for “more chat about the costs of surviving for young adults,” but he and Solorio are some backing Bass.

West L.A. package developer Mike Eveloff asked the million-dollar mobility successful 1 of his galore observations during the debate:

“Why is LA spending grounds amounts connected homelessness, fire, police, and infrastructure while results deteriorate? Streets and sidewalks crumble. Even the metropolis emblem correct successful beforehand of City Hall is deteriorated. With the World Cup and Olympics approaching, voters request to know: Do these leaders person the financial subject and operational competence to negociate a fourteen cardinal dollar city?”

Venice resident Dennis Hathaway, writer of “An Octogenarian’s Journal,” said he thinks “these kinds of debates are beautiful non-edifying.” And, arsenic personification I wrote about 2 years agone regarding busted sidewalks successful his neighborhood, he shared this lament about Thursday’s debate:

“No mention of surgery sidewalks, potholed streets, different deteriorated infrastructure. To me, that’s a overmuch much important taxable than non-citizens voting successful metropolis elections.”

(Bass did opportunity during the statement that location was a caller infrastucture scheme successful place, and that’s a measurement successful the correct direction. But location was nary discussion, and erstwhile you read the details, 2028 Olympics projects will beryllium prioritized, and it’ll return years to fig retired really to money thousands of further much-needed fixes.)

The Coandas unrecorded not acold from Hathaway, and their lives person been upended first by Barbara’s test and past by John getting laid disconnected successful February from his occupation arsenic a information analyst. Barbara still teaches French via Zoom, and John is tending to her needs. They started a Gofundme run to thief salary their bills.

With Barbara successful a wheelchair, John contacted the city’s Safe Sidewalks L.A. programme past fall, and I deliberation it’s adjacent to opportunity that sanction is location betwixt a misnomer and a bad joke.

The “program” responded by email connected Halloween, appropriately enough, informing him that nether the City Council-approved “Sidewalk Repair Program Prioritization and Scoring System,” his petition for thief merits only 15 points retired of a imaginable 45.

“Currently,” he was informed, “the estimated hold clip for completion of an Access Request pinch a people of 15 is successful excess of 10 years.”

Happy Halloween.

Over the years, work for sidewalk repairs has shifted betwixt the metropolis and homeowners. There’s a rebate programme disposable to group who repair their ain sidewalks, but it’s capped astatine an magnitude that doesn’t ever screen the costs. And ruptured pavement is keeping tons of lawyers engaged pinch trip-and-fall lawsuits that costs the metropolis millions each year.

Barbara Durieux Coanda, who has ALS, and her husband, John Coanda, make their measurement down the ramp successful beforehand of their location successful Mar Vista.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Coanda told maine he doesn’t person the costs astatine the infinitesimal to salary for repairs, and moreover if he did, location are respective much sidewalk disaster zones connected some sides of his street, truthful he’d still person to push his wife’s wheelchair successful the thoroughfare moreover if he fixed the cracks successful beforehand of his ain house.

Barbara graciously said she thinks the metropolis has other, higher priorities, but successful November her hubby contacted the agency of Councilmember Traci Park, saying he was told that he would person to hold 10 years for repairs.

“Sadly,” he wrote, “I don’t deliberation my woman will unrecorded that long.”

A Park staffer wrote back, saying, “The turnaround clip does sound realistic fixed the budgetary situation the metropolis finds itself in.” But, the staffer added, possibly the assembly member’s agency could “help move the needle connected this request.”

Coanda said he’s been excessively engaged pinch his wife’s issues to travel up. But Pete Brown, Park’s communications director, told maine Friday day that the agency is exploring ways to salary for fixes that don’t return 10 years, including the usage of discretionary funds.

I don’t cognize really that mightiness play out, but I do cognize that L.A. doesn’t request different statement for illustration the past one.

We request a politician and assembly members who garbage to judge that it takes 10 years to create safe transition for a wheelchair.

In the nationalist superior of surgery sidewalks, we request actual plans.

steve.lopez@beritaja.com