Nick McBdiscoff, a Kenmore resident, told the Kenmore City Council during public comment that the city’s own ADA transition plan identifies more than 1,000 sidewalk locations with vertical displacement exceeding the federal maximum and urged the council to create an emergency repair program.
McBdiscoff said the federal Americans with Disabilities Act limits vertical changes in sidewalks to a quarter-inch and that the city’s documented defects create both safety and financial risk. “With over 1,000 documented hazards, we are talking about — if someone falls — when and how much it will cost us,” he said.
He cited a 2020 settlement in the Puget Sound area in which a 57-year-old plaintiff received $260,000 after a fall on uneven sidewalk and estimated that typical settlements range from $10,000 to $50,000. He told the council that legal expenses, staff time and higher insurance premiums would add to long-term costs.
McBdiscoff said the city can no longer claim ignorance once a hazard is documented and asked the council to “direct staff to develop an emergency sidewalk repair program with adequate funding.” In his remarks he referred to an engineering director, Mr. Vicente, as confirming the more-than-1,000 figure in the city’s ADA transition plan.
The comments were made during the meeting’s public-comment period; no formal council action or staff directive was recorded during the meeting on the item. The council did not vote or take formal action in response to the public comment during the session.
McBdiscoff framed the request as a choice between funding preventative repairs and paying for settlements later: “Every day we delay, we are gambling with people’s safety and our city’s financial future,” he said.
The speaker asked the clerk to forward his remarks to the council and requested a response from staff or the transportation department on whether the concerns would be addressed.
The meeting continued with other agenda items and later moved to an executive session on real estate and potential litigation; no public action on sidewalk funding was recorded before adjournment.