Denver deserves sidewalks. With Ballot Initiative 307, we can finally have the Denver city government take responsibility for providing complete and well-maintained sidewalk infrastructure that is fundamental for people of all ages and abilities.

Under today’s broken system, each property owner is expected to contract for the repair of sidewalks – often a multi-thousand dollar expense. Expecting individuals to arrange and pay for repairing public infrastructure is such a strange, inefficient and burdensome idea that most owners don’t realize they’re responsible, and can’t believe that’s how our system is set up.

People who do know how the system works are rightly reluctant to “turn in their neighbor” by calling 311 for trip hazards, knowing they could be causing real financial harm to that family by simply asking for a safe walking path accessible to all.

As a homeowner on a corner lot, today I’d be on the hook for huge repair costs if tree roots, broken segments, or overall wear and tear meant I needed to hire a contractor for sidewalk work. Transferring responsibility to the City of Denver with a fee proportional to how much sidewalk is next to my home is fair and makes sense, just like my stormwater fee is proportional to how much impervious area is on my property. My fee reflects the responsibility I’ll be transferring to the City. I’ll never have to hesitate to call for repairs, nor fear that my neighbors will call. City-designated equity and stabilization neighborhoods will get an annual fee discount, and anyone needing to can defer fees until time of sale. Whether repairs are needed by my house right now or not, I and everyone else will benefit when we can walk (or roll) safely anywhere in the city.

Repairs aren’t the only issue. Many sidewalks throughout the city are too skinny to accommodate a person using a wheelchair or stroller, forcing people into the streets with traffic. In many areas sidewalks are simply missing, often with a City-provided corner curb ramp to… nothing! Currently, the City considers the sidewalk itself someone else’s problem, rather than ensuring that people walking have basic dignity. This will be addressed rapidly with the dedicated funding and program that this vote approves.

Neighborhoods have been asking the City to take responsibility for this basic infrastructure since 2006, when Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (an association of Denver-wide neighborhood organizations) wrote to elected officials asking for “replacing the current City policy, which makes individual homeowners responsible for the cost of installing or repairing walks, with alternative sources of funding such as a city-wide annual fee.” INC has repeated the call several times since then, including INC leadership taking this specific request to a meeting in the Mayor’s Office in 2019, only to get no action. So it was no surprise that the Denver Deserves Sidewalks ballot initiative was overwhelmingly supported by INC’s citywide neighborhood delegates this year, with a motion urging all member neighborhood organizations to “support this important issue.”

Is this ballot initiative perfect? No proposal is perfect. The more people look at it, the more ideas there are for tweaks, and that’s entirely normal for new, major initiatives. There is room to refine the approach after adoption, as City Council has done before. To those who are finding special cases or unclear situations – thank you! Let’s get this passed and incorporate what you’ve found.

We can have a city with fundamental mobility infrastructure. We can make life better for the young, old, disabled and everyone else who needs to get around. We can remove the threat of surprise, enormous costs for repairs that people simply can’t afford. We can finally address an issue the neighborhoods have been calling out for so many years.

Vote yes on 307, because Denver deserves sidewalks.

Joel Noble is past president of Curtis Park Neighbors, and is chair of the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation‘s Transportation Committee. He serves as a neighborhood voice on the Denver Planning Board.