

LA City Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Mitch Englander have a plan to get the money needed to fix LA's craggy streets and dangerously damaged sidewalks and it's similar to a lot of other plans to fix things around here: pass a measure that would increase the sales tax to 9.5 percent. (A study released about three weeks ago had suggested that upping the sales tax would be the best way to generate $4.5 billion for street and sidewalk repair.) Officials presented the Save Our Streets Los Angeles Ballot Measure publicly for the first time yesterday via an easily digestible PowerPoint that makes the case that, since the gas tax is not yielding enough money to fund the extensive repairs the city's roads and walkways need (damn you, more efficient cars!), the money's going to have to come from somewhere, unless of course you want to keep hitting potholes and tripping on busted sidewalks. Where are the fixes most needed? Of the 15 streets that are going to get the most repairs (above), Sepulveda Boulevard tops the list, needing big-time help along a non-continuous 109 miles, followed by Van Nuys Boulevard, which will need about 60 miles repaired.

· Los Angeles leaders lay out plan for sales-tax hike to fix streets, sidewalks [DB]

· Save Our Streets LA PowerPoint presentation [SOSLA]

· Study: Sales Tax Best Bet For Fixing LA's Awful Streets/Sidewalks [Curbed LA]