CLEVELAND — Noah Fowle isn't sure when the potentially hazardous sidewalk in front of his west side Cleveland home will finally be replaced, even though he paid the city more than $2,100 upfront for the job last October.
Fowle told News 5 he signed up for the City of Cleveland 50/50 Sidewalk Residential Replacement Program eight months ago, but despite dozens of emails and phone calls to multiple city departments, he still can't get a start date for the project.
“It’s incredibly frustrating. If you pay the money, you expect the work to get done in a reasonably timely fashion," Fowle said. “Well, tell me what the delay is, don’t just take my money and then don’t take my phone calls.”
According to the Cleveland Bureau of Sidewalks web page, the program, which splits the cost between a residential homeowner and the city, usually takes 8 to 12 weeks to complete a sidewalk replacement, weather permitting.
Fowle told News 5 he's stunned no one at city hall can give him an answer.
“Optimistically, I thought the work was going to get done quickly. We had an incredibility mild winter," Fowle said. “I thought that I was certainly going to be at the front of the line, considering I paid in October, and here I am at the tail end of June and nothing has been done except they spray-painted markings twice now.”
Fowle said he even contacted Ward 17 Councilman Charles Slife about the delays in the program.
“All he could tell me was the cost for the project went up sometime in January of this year, and he assured me that they’re working on it, and he understood my frustration,” Fowle said. "I don’t want to be responsible for anyone that hurts themselves on the sidewalk that was like this when we moved in.”
News 5 reached out to the office of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb for this story and it issued a statement telling us price increases were partly to blame for the project delays.
Previously, the City contracted with a vendor to complete the work associated with the 50/50 Sidewalk Residential Replacement Program. Unfortunately, the items associated with the 50/50 program were substantially higher than in previous years, which raised the price to a point that wouldn’t be affordable for the City and its residents, so we had to transition work orders in-house to our Division of Streets and Urban Forestry Section.
This increased workload required additional equipment that needed to be purchased and additional personnel that needed to be hired – both of which have been completed. We have started working on all outstanding work orders and appreciate residents’ patience as we catch up.
News 5 is committed to following through on when the delayed sidewalk projects will finally get started.
Meanwhile, residents who are interested in applying for the program can call (216)-664-2182 to request an estimate, or they can find more information on the city Bureau of Sidewalks web page to see if they qualify for the program.
Noah believes the City of Cleveland should have been prepared organizationally for the price increases that have the city holding onto his more than $2,100 for eight months with no results.
“I think it’s pretty upsetting that it takes three rounds of dozens of emails just to get some attention," Fowle said. “If this was the sidewalk of somebody who works in the Bureau of Sidewalks, I think it would be done tomorrow.”
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
