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Sidewalks in Bad Shape, Costing City Millions in Lawsuits
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 9, 2009
Modified Mar 9, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 9, 2009
Modified Mar 9, 2009
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The city's Sidewalk Management Unit has not been doing a very good job, according to Comptroller William Thompson, Jr., who is releasing his annual report on the state of the sidewalks. Over the last several years, the city has paid an average of $63.5 million annually to settle claims relating to defective sidewalks. Thompson says millions could have been saved if the DOT hadn't failed to inspect one out of every five sidewalk defect complaints; he's also dismayed that violations remained unfixed for an average of four years. According to the Daily News, the DOT issues summonses to homeowners, and if they fail to fix the violation, the city is supposed to do the repairs and bill them. But when the repairs aren't done, the city is liable in court. (In 2003, a law was passed to make commercial businesses responsible for their sidewalks, which reduced the number of lawsuits against the city.) Another part of the problem is that parks officials don’t have the $34 million necessary to fix the 22,229 reported sidewalks that have been buckled by the city’s mischievous street trees.
Tagged
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Comptroller Thompson
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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