Street trees are considered by the City as one of many infrastructure elements. The Urban Forestry Division realizes that street trees at times come into conflict with other infrastructure, principally sidewalks. These conflicts may result in cracking, uplifting, sinking, or other movements that may cause a potential pedestrian hazard.

Sidewalks are, by the Los Angeles Municipal Code, the responsibility of the adjacent property owner to keep and maintain in a safe and passable condition. This responsibility includes keeping the sidewalk free and clear of fruit, leaves, twigs as well as the integrity of the concrete sidewalk itself. The City's law stems from long-accepted State statutes.

Nevertheless, the City is responsible for sidewalk damage incurred from the roots of a street tree. Due to budget constraints, the City's past practice to ensure public safety has been to apply a small asphalt repair to damaged sidewalks, regardless of the cause. In 1999, the City experimented with a pilot Sidewalk Repair Program that was enthusiastically received by the residents. In response, beginning in 2000 the City Council funded a Sidewalk Repair Program. The creation and implementation of the program fell to the Bureau of Street Services.

The program includes the removal and replacement of the damaged sidewalk as well as any work that must be performed to a street tree to enable the repair.