Sidewalk Supervisor Safety Advocate Keeps Running Tab On Dangers Facing City Pedestrians

When Don Chase goes running on Spokane’s South Hill, he mixes exercise with civic activism.

He takes note of the city’s crumbling sidewalks that end one block only to begin again a few blocks later.

He jots down the addresses of homeowners who plant shrubs and park their cars in the pedestrian strip - the seven-foot swatch of city right of way that borders the road. By law, it’s supposed to be left open for public use.

He bombards the city with letters and complaints aimed at forcing officials to take action.

“I don’t see how this isn’t a public safety issue,” says Chase, 44, an engineer and avid runner.

“He’s asking for the moon, and I can’t reach that high,” says Irv Reed, the city’s director of planning services.

City ordinances say residents must pay if they want sidewalks along a street that doesn’t have them. If old sidewalks are falling apart, it’s the homeowner’s job to fix them.

The law also states that pedestrian strips must be kept free from obstructions.

Most people don’t know they’ve done anything wrong when they run a fence along the curb or let their sidewalks crack into concrete chunks, Reed says.

He doesn’t have the employees or the cash for enforcement. “I recognize what’s on the books, but that’s not a very high priority,” Reed says, adding the city does take action if the situation is dangerous.

The City Council last week passed a bikeways/ pedestrian plan aimed at making it easier for bicyclists and walkers to get around town. The long-range plan says that “sidewalks should be wherever people might walk.”

While it’s a nice idea, it’s expensive, says Dave Mandyke, the city’s construction projects coordinator. Neither the city nor most residents have the money to string sidewalks along every street.

Chase, who moved from St. Paul, Minn., a year ago, began his crusade for pedestrian safety almost immediately, firing off a letter to the mayor complaining about sidewalk conditions.

Since then, he’s carried on nearly continuous correspondence with city officials about his numerous concerns and suggestions. He’s filed nearly 100 complaints about the “friendly annexation of right of way,” where homeowners use public land as their own.

One of his chief complaints is High Drive, a favorite of runners and walkers. Chase considers it dangerous. There aren’t any sidewalks, and many homeowners have landscaped to the curb.

Charlie McCollim is one of them. Shrubs have lined his front yard since he moved there in 1972.

“They’re part of the reason I bought the place,” he says.

He says he’d put up a heck of a fight if someone told him to move them. “Those bushes are there to protect me.”

Nancy Seefeld thinks Chase has the right idea.

Seefeld lives along High Drive and worries about her two young children’s safety. She’s considered circulating a petition aimed at getting sidewalks along the view street.

“This city is the worst,” says Seefeld, who grew up in Boston where sidewalks were everywhere. “Up and down here, there’s no place to walk. And people get irritated when you walk in their lawn.”

Even in neighborhoods with sidewalks, their condition is dismal, Chase says. Much of the damage is caused by tree roots that push up chunks of concrete, causing a lumpy, disjointed mess for someone on foot or in a wheelchair.

“I’m struck by the amount of sidewalks that are falling apart,” he says.

The city does try to force homeowners to fix badly deteriorated sidewalks. When officials get a complaint, they’ll hammer a resident with a series of letters asking for repairs. About 30 percent agree, Mandyke says.

While they could take a homeowner to court, they don’t, Mandyke says.

“The bottom line is that it’s labor intensive,” he says. “Is that where we want to put the resources of the city? Probably not.”

Betty Boyd didn’t know she had to pay to fix her own sidewalk until she got a letter from the city two years ago.

“Ours is really, really bad,” says Boyd. “It’s just a matter of money.”

Limited cash is a problem for the city, too.

“The city doesn’t have money to fix its streets, let alone its sidewalks,” says Diana Levin, Spokane’s risk manager.

Reed says the city isn’t ignoring pedestrian safety.

The city recently applied for new state and federal grants aimed at repairing and building sidewalks. Those dollars weren’t available until this year.

Neighborhoods that get federal Community Development dollars often set aside a portion for sidewalks. In the past three years, about $525,000 has gone toward construction and repair.

Any new development or repaving project must include sidewalks unless someone can convince the City Council they aren’t necessary.

Residents also can form a local improvement district, where they pitch in as a group to pay for new sidewalks. That’s why one neighborhood may have sidewalks along some blocks but not along others.

Chase says he has the perfect way to improve pedestrian access: Sell any public right-of-way the city isn’t using and probably never will. Then, put the money in a fund to help residents build and repair sidewalks.

Reed says he’s heard that suggestion for years, but it’s just not possible.

“We never know if we’re aren’t going to use it,” Reed says. “One day, we might want to build sidewalks or widen the road, and we’d have to buy it all back.”

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