Local elected attempts to get to root of sidewalk damage problem
With some homeowners having to wait years to get the sidewalks in front of their homes repaired after damage by tree roots, one local elected official has vowed to get to the root of the problem.
“The city is responsible for sidewalk repairs if the roots from a city-owned tree are damaging the sidewalk, but there are tremendous delays,” said Assemblymember Dov Hikind. “If you trim the city-owned tree in front of your house, the city will right away issue you a violation. But if the tree damages your sidewalk, you end up waiting a very long time until the city will make repairs. In the meantime, this is a dangerous situation.”
Indeed, not all homes with sidewalks damaged by tree roots will see repairs, even if they have been issued violations by the city’s Department of Transportation, which shares jurisdiction over the matter with the city’s Parks Department, which does the repairs.