Politics & Government

City Begins Process of Inspecting, Identifying Busted Sidewalks

The first part of Lakewood's 10-year citywide sidewalk inspection program is slated to begin in the coming weeks.

Notice little, white spray-painted circles on your sidewalk?

One resident told Lakewood Patch that the sidewalk “looked like it had snowed, there were so many dots.”

Those are the spots identified by city officials as sidewalks that need to be ripped out and replaced because they are “trip hazards.”

Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The city has plans to inspect sidewalks and notify residents of a violation but we want the residents to fix it, not us,” said the city’s public works director Joe Beno.

He said the first part of Lakewood's 10-year citywide sidewalk inspection program is slated to begin in the coming weeks. 

Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

”We would have liked to do this a couple of months ago but have been working through changes in our permitting and citing systems,” Beno added. 

The city is using map that divides the city into 30 sections, and the current administration plans on inspecting three sections per year “because we need a manageable amount that if people do not repair the sections, the city has the resources to get the pieces repaired and bill the owner.”

“If we did the entire city at once, we could end up with millions of dollars of sidewalk work to do,” he said.

This year, the city is focusing its efforts on sections 26, 24 and 15 — but may add section 25 because it’s only one street.

Have a look at the attached map to see if your street is getting an inspection.

City hall is already fielding calls from concerned residents.

One man, a resident of Clifton Boulevard, called city hall on Tuesday, upset with the $1,700 price tag that it costs him to repair his stretch of sidewalk.


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