Eyewitness News
New York City officials are getting at the root of the problem when it comes to cracked sidewalks.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city will now pick up the tab to repair sidewalks damaged by city-owned trees, and the city will also ramp up sidewalk repairs under the "Trees and Sidewalks" program to address 5,500 priority sites over the next three years.
Previously, homeowners were responsible for fixing the damage under threat of fines.
"We're not just fixing broken sidewalks, we're fixing a broken system," de Blasio said. "We tripled funding for tree related sidewalk repair, but homeowners were still on the hook for problems they didn't create. As a homeowner, I know how frustrating that is. Now, if a street tree causes damage, we're taking care of it."
The
city will stop imposing liens on one-, two- and three-family properties
that have sidewalk damage caused solely by city trees, and while the
DOT and the Parks Department will still inspect for dangerous sidewalk
conditions, the city -- not the homeowner -- will be responsible for
fixing them if they are exclusively tree related.
15 comments:
Nice to know, and I can't fault this as being anything but a good measure for beleaguered small property homeowners. JC check that link I emailed regarding the heinous DoB fines on the same group.
Too little, too late, this should have been done decades ago when the problem was first noticed. As Marcia Kramer noted in her piece on channel 2, it could take the city 20 years to clear the current backlog. Meanwhile, people will keep tripping and falling unnecessarily. The city should hire outside contractors to fix the sidewalks until the backlog is cleared.
That being said, the issue of legal liability wasn't addressed in this piece. Is the city 100% liable if someone is injured due to an uprooted sidewalk, or does the adjacent homeowner share any blame?
Regardless of legal responsibilities, homeowners are complicit with this negligence too. I don't understand how you could allow your sidewalk to get to the point it's a trip hazard. Start reporting to the city when you first notice cracks. If no action is taken and the sidewalk is becoming uneven, document the issue carefully, get it fixed, then file a claim with the city's comptrollers office. Take the city to court if the claim is denied.
Let's face it, the trees are tired of you people. They may be quiet but they do fight back.
It's a trap, they'll fix the tree lift and penalize your neighbors for the slightest crack...
The sidewalk is not my property it belongs to the city why should I have to pay for repairs to the sidewalk if the city can just plant a tree or a bioswale or a muni meter or a telephone pole etc.In 45 years since the tree in front of my house was planted I have replaced the sidewalk twice at my own expense.Now it is a tripping hazard again and I am on a list they Park's Dept started a few years ago.I was told the list was long and there was not enough funding so we will see how long it will take.I assume they will be taking the worst cases first but I am concerned if I will be sued if someone trips and gets hurt or is the city responsible.
warp10 wrote: "Regardless of legal responsibilities, homeowners are complicit with this negligence too. I don't understand how you could allow your sidewalk to get to the point it's a trip hazard. Start reporting to the city when you first notice cracks."
Until this change, if you reported your own sidewalk to the city, they would come and give YOU a citation to fix the sidewalk at your expense.
Your comment made sense until you blamed homeowners for not sending the city to give you a ticket.
It's about time. My father had a tree in front of his house but when he asked the city if he can cut it down they said "no it's the city's tree" but then when the roots from the tree caused the plumbing in our basement to back it they said "it's your responsibility". The city never wants to ever take responsibility for something that is theirs and causes problems but yet if you want to get rid of it, you can't. It's always been a catch 22. I'm glad mayor dumbdumb actually did something useful in this city besides universal pre k. This is the second good thing he's accomplished in all the time hes been mayor.
From now on ill just flick my cigarette at these scumbag trees. They live!
Anonymous #4:
If the homeowner had reported the damage to the DOT, then yes, you are correct, they most likely would have received a violation after an inspection. If they instead reported it to the Parks Dept. as a "Trees & Sidewalks" request, they would have been placed on a wait-list instead with no violation issued.
My point was that I blame homeowners / property owners for essentially capitulating and allowing the city to neglect the sidewalks for so long. If just a few of them organized and took legal action, this could have been resolved a long time ago. Look at the recent settlement the city made regarding fixing broken pedestrian ramps. I'm surprised that disability and/or pedestrian advocacy groups have not done something similar for sidewalks citywide.
Long ago the wrong trees were planted along the curbs. We need trees but the right ones. Snaller ones with different growth patters are fine and won't damage a sidwalk/driveway or clog gutters.
Ok, but, seriously, shouldn't they come and do it themselves?
I mean the City. After all, it's their trees.
Really, my streets were fine for decades without trees.
City tree damage to sidewalks was one of Tony Avella's pet projects so he should get some credit here. Avella's successor as state senator, John Liu, is largely invisible in his district. It was dumb for voters to choose Liu over Tony.
"John Liu, is largely invisible"
I saw him in Marino's and no one paid attention to him.
Wow, DeBlasio came up with a way to spend our tax dollars that I actually agree with.
>Long ago the wrong trees were planted along the curbs. We need trees but the right ones.
From what I understand, the big culprit in uprooting sidewalks are maple trees, and the City did stop planting them decades ago.
This is great news but would you trust the city worker to fix the curb? They don’t bother to show up to trim the trees! I have to call 411 repeatedly. I saw one street paved where they forgot to create a curb. The street literally got paved where it meets the sidewalk! With serious rain, any drain blockage, the rain stays on the sidewalk. Dangerous for elderly and children.
Post a Comment