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# A walkway with hops
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/a-walkway-with-hops/
- Published: 2007-05-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:51:38.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Environment, Ocean Park, #archive-import

21ST STREET Living in the city by the sea provides some with an extra bounce in their step, especially with city officials having installed more than 6,500 square feet of rubber sidewalks.

Now, they’re looking to do more. With a $60,000 grant from the state, City Hall is planning to install rubber pavers at several locations where large tree roots have forced concrete slabs to crack, creating a costly repair job and a chance for someone to trip and seriously injure themselves, leaving City Hall vulnerable to lawsuits.

Once the work is completed, there will be more than 80 spots throughout the city with rubber sidewalks. “I think they’re great,”said Angelique Gagnon, who recently moved with her husband and two children from Brooklyn to 21st Street, where there are the largest number of rubber pavers — nearly one every 10 to 15 feet from Ocean Park Boulevard to Pearl Street, which is lined with large ficus trees.

“The rubber is nice to work on and push a stroller on,” Gagnon said. “I think the rubber offers a little reprieve. They absorb a little more, provide a little cushion. If they help keep the trees here then I’m all for it. I love the trees. They remind me of my childhood.”

Back in 1999, Santa Monica became the first city in the country to use recycled rubber instead of traditional concrete for sidewalk repair, according to Craig Perkins, director of environmental and public works management for City Hall. The first location was at 1301 Grant Street.

A senior staff member asked a rubber recycling company if they could make a prototype paver. City Hall has since watched as the technology evolved. Now the rubber pavers are cheaper, more durable and larger in size, resembling concrete slabs.

“We wanted them to resemble concrete as much as possible because we didn’t want to make (the sidewalks) look like a crazy quilt,” Perkins said. “It fits in.”

Perkins said the cost of a rubber paver, which is around $15 each, is still more expensive than concrete, at $11 per slab, but over the long term money can be saved on maintenance and repairs. With rubber pavers, not only do they never crumble and crack, they can be easily removed so that tree trimmers can cut back the roots and train them to grow elsewhere.

“The impact on maintenance over time is pretty encouraging,” Perkins said. “It’s more expensive initially, but over the long term, the savings more than make up for it.”

Skateboarders have complained that the rubber slows them down, while others pointed out some slabs have dimpled, creating puddles when it rains. Still, most people seem to enjoy bouncing a little bit as they walk down the street.

“It’s pretty cool,” said one passerby as he walked passed the Fairview Library. “You don’t have to worry about stepping on any cracks.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 25, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)