A project that could take nearly 30 years to complete may get a green light next month by voters in Denver.
An advocacy group in the city has put on this year’s ballot Ordinance 307, otherwise known as the Denver Deserves Sidewalks initiative, which is designed to raise up to $40 million annually to repair, upgrade, and build hundreds of miles of new sidewalks.
Studies have shown that Denver currently has a deficit of up to 300 miles of sidewalks that are simply missing in places where one section of a sidewalk ends and just feet away, another begins.
Those same studies have documented more than 800 miles of existing sidewalks that are regarded as too narrow.
Reports have indicated that, altogether, up to 40% of Denver’s sidewalks are either nonexistent or nonfunctional.
The campaign behind the ordinance has noted that a significant number of unsafe and poorly maintained sidewalks are in the city’s lower income neighborhoods. Missing, narrow, or inadequate sidewalks are also a particular challenge to residents with disabilities.
A Denver Deserves Sidewalks promo, noting that sidewalk improvements would also make it safer for kids to walk to school, additionally references studies showing that children who walk to school have “higher academic performance and lower levels of stress during the school day.”
The ballot ordinance has won the support of a variety of groups, including the non-profit Denver Foundation and Denver Regional Mobility & Access Council.
But it has also generated controversy because homeowners would be required to pay an annual fee, with those owning larger properties hit the hardest. While agreeing with the need to repair the city’s sidewalks, the Denver Post recently remarked that it “sees too many flaws in the Denver Deserves Sidewalks proposal to support it at this time.”
By Garry Boulard
