MACEDONIA, Ohio — Some people living in Macedonia are trying to get answers to a massive sidewalk problem. The city said residents have to pay for repairs, but many told us that’s just not right.
“I’m very frustrated for a number of reasons,” Tim Harrity said.
He has lived in Macedonia for decades and said he had no problems with the sidewalks until recent years.
“We had nothing to do with the planting of that tree,” he told us, pointing to a tree in front of his house. He said the city planted it 8 or 10 years ago. He said the root of the problem is the roots themselves that are pushing up his sidewalk.
He told us he called the city a while back. “We’ll see how we can get this fixed and something will be done,” Harrity said of the conversation he had with the service department. “That never happened.”
CITY GIVES FAST APPROACHING DEADLINE
“It’s someone else’s mistake that we’re fixing,” said Marie Crawford, who lives five minutes away from Harrity. She also has tree roots that create problems on her sidewalks.
She and many others in the city received a letter from the city. Hers is dated June 26, saying she has to fix the problem by Aug. 1. If she doesn’t, a contractor hired by the city will do it. The estimate is nearly $7,300. “I don’t have $7,000, especially to pay for the sidewalk that the city trees broke,” Crawford said.
We found one project where the homeowner told us it would cost just under $20,000 to repair the sidewalks.
“I can’t touch that tree,” Harrity said. “I can’t take it down because it’s not mine.” Not only that, he noted that there’s a water main in the middle of his sidewalk and half of it belongs to the city. “If anything were to happen — leaks, cracks, whatever — it’s the city’s responsibility,” he said, wondering why sidewalks don’t fall into the same category.
THE MAYOR DOES NOT RESPOND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL DOES
News 5 investigators called the mayor two days ago and received no response. We called again today and were told he was not in the office.
We spoke to the city council president, who said there have been issues with people tripping on sidewalks, and while the city has been lax in enforcing repairs, it is now consolidating its stance and demanding the repairs.
If people can’t pay by the end of the year, they can pay it off over three years as part of their taxes. Some people believe the city’s plan isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“It’s the city that’s taking advantage of property owners,” Harrity said. “They don’t want to go through the expense of replacing sidewalks.”
