Fw: [EXTERNAL] Sidewalks
From: Tony Daysog ([email protected])
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at 05:12 PM PST
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From: Denise < denisela @ m
Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 4:25:43 PM
To: Tony Daysog <[email protected]>
Cc: Lara Weisiger < [email protected]>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Sidewalks
Councilmember Daysog,
Thank you for your prompt reply and your work to put this issue on the city council record. I appreciate the anonymity as well.
I look forward to these very old and failing bits of sidewalks scattered across my neighborhood prioritized for replacement as soon as possible, and hopefully not just in my neighborhood but across the city as well.
Kindest regards,
On Jan 7, 2025, at 2:25 PM, Tony Daysog <[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks, d for your email. I'll very briefly discuss it tonight during the City Councilmember Communications (ie non-action) portion of the agenda at the end of the meeting. I will give a paper copy of the email to the City Clerk so she can enter it into the public record, amd I will make sure to REDACT your email address, phone #, home address, and any other personally identifiable i formation. - Tony
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From: riselai@1
Sent: Friday, January 3, 2025 9:56:15 AM
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>; Michele Pryor <[email protected]>; Tony Daysog <[email protected]>; Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>; Greg Boller <[email protected]>
Cc: Jennifer Ott <[email protected]>; Erin Smith <[email protected]> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Sidewalks
Hello Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council Members,
I want to bring a neighborhood-wide issue to you.
Regarding "Middle Alameda", the neighborhood roughly between Lincoln and Sweeney Park, Wilma Chan and Sherman or Grand.
As you know and years ago, the city installed ADA corners in all our intersections which is great. But at the same time, many sections of our sidewalks are over 50 years old, some over 100 and have not been replaced by the city. They are riddled with serious trip hazards and this is from no fault of the adjacent property owner, but from simply from being far, far too old. One cannot make it from one ADA corner to the next without having to navigate these hazards. And wheelchairs and walkers simply cannot make it past many of them. For those of us with balance or vision issues, looking up and away from the sidewalk even for a brief moment while walking can put us at serious risk of falling; I know, I've taken two bad falls recently due to exactly this, and the falls were so severe that my Apple watch called 911.
I cannot walk safely in my own neighborhood to/from the parks or shops. So I just spent a bit of time reporting about 20 of the hazards (a small percent of the total) within a few blocks of my home on SeeClickFix.
This is what the city replied with:
"Thank you for your request...to help ensure Alameda's sidewalks are as safe as possible. Per Alameda's municipal code and state law, property owners are responsible for the sidewalk adjacent to their property. As a courtesy, the City makes sidewalk repairs caused by City-maintained street trees. We will inspect this reported issue to determine if caused by a City-maintained street tree. If the repair is not caused by a City-maintained tree, the owner will be sent a notice to repair the sidewalk. If the repair is caused by a City-maintained street tree, maintenance staff may install a temporary make-safe repair, such as an asphalt fillet or cutting the uplifted concrete. A permanent repair is when new concrete is poured to fix the sidewalk. Each year, funds for permanent replacements are focused in one of five sidewalk zones. Given City Council's recent investments in sidewalks, the backlog of repairs has been significantly reduced; however, sidewalks continue to age and tree roots continue to grow and cause conflicts. Thank you in advance for your help (and patience) in maintaining Alameda's sidewalks."
I understand the state law and your legal defense here. But it is also the case that the City of Alameda is liable for sidewalks that are 50 to 120 years old that are in very bad condition with severe trip hazards and that have never been replaced. One would think in the past 50 to 70 years that the city would have had the foresight to replace the 50 to 120 year old sidewalks, and particularly after the trip hazards became severe, rather than simply leaving them there. Public Works must know that sidewalks have an expected lifetime of 50 years—and that trip hazards from ancient sidewalks are not the responsibility of the adjacent property This is something the City should have addressed with our tax dollars well before now, and without charging the property owner. Your "recent investments" in sidewalks did NOT address the antique sidewalks in my neighborhood or on 8th street that leads to an entrance to Sweeney Park-where a lot of people walk too.
It's a lot cheaper to fix the bits/bobs of ancient sidewalks with known severe trip-hazards than it is to have a resident badly hurt and a resulting lawsuit against the City.
What can be done at this immediate term for our neighborhood? hope that you will see that these are replaced post haste. Thank you.
Kindest regards,
cc: City Manager, Public Works Manager