Portland to settle with wheelchair users for $113 million in sidewalk fixes
Portland is preparing to settle a class action legal dispute with mobility-disabled residents by agreeing to upgrade more than 16,000 sidewalk ramps at a cost of $113 million over the next 12 years.
The settlement, if approved Wednesday by the City Council, promises to change how Portland builds and maintains sidewalks – changes that are likely to affect wide swaths of the city as sidewalk improvements are made. For example, the city pledged to create 1,500 curb cuts a year, more than double the current rate of about 700 a year.
Copies of the settlement proposal and a projection of its financial impact were released Thursday to The Oregonian/OregonLive in response to a public records request. The projected cost of upgrading sidewalks is $113 million, or about $10 million a year.
The financial statement notes that the city is short on the settlement liability by $52 million. A spokesman for Mayor Ted Wheeler said the city has multiple funding sources to draw upon to meet the settlement liability, adding that a financing plan is still under development.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/05/portland_to_settle_with_wheelc.html
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