Sherry Rhetta waited nearly three years to hear back from the city about fixing a dangerous sidewalk in front of her home in northwest Detroit. But as of two weeks ago, the city responded with a plan to address her concerns, as well as those of thousands of others.
Rhetta, 63, lives with a senior citizen who uses a wheelchair. And each time she wheels her over the sidewalk, she said it feels like rolling over potholes, so they often have to walk around on grass to leave the house. The issue loomed for years, posing trip hazards and quality of life challenges for her family and neighbors.
She even witnessed a kid falling off of a skateboard over broken concrete on her block, she said.
However, Mayor Mary Sheffield, on Monday, May 18 in Detroit’s Greenfield neighborhood, announced a $9.5 million program to fix a total of 6,300 locations with broken sidewalks across the city, including the strip in front of Rhetta’s home.
Crews performed a live concrete pour on Monday in front of another resident’s home, who was unable to attend the announcement.
“I have to walk around on the grass, and I just felt uncomfortable. I said, ‘We needed this to be done as soon as possible.’ I was gonna pay for it. … I gave up hope,” Rhetta said, adding that her sidewalk is in the process of being replaced.
“I think the quality of life is having smooth sidewalks … everybody’s walking down there. The mailman comes, even got other people that come over to deliver stuff, they might trip over. … .I’m just happy that we got somebody that’s paying attention to us because before, we didn’t have anybody listening or paying attention to us. they’re having more meetings now, the City Council’s coming out, walking to people’s houses, and we appreciate that.”
Broken sidewalks have been an issue for residents since Sheffield was a City Council member, she said, adding that they “may seem like a small thing, but they are very critical to the overall quality of life of the neighborhood” for seniors, families and children.
“As a former City Council member, this was one of the requests that we consistently got from residents, is ‘When is my sidewalk going to be repaired?’ And, oftentimes, I think we think about big developments and big investments that residents want and deserve in their neighborhoods, but it’s also about simple quality of life things like lights and sidewalks that residents deserve to get addressed,” Sheffield said.
The repair backlog, by City Council district, includes: 820 sidewalks for District 1; 712 for District 2; 910 for District 3; 1,251 for District 4; 1,005 for District 5; 942 for District 6, and 660 for District 7.
Funding stems from an $8 million contract with Detroit-based Giorgi Concrete LLC and Major Contracting Group, which the City Council approved earlier this month, BridgeDetroit reports, along with $1.5 million in “carryover funds” from the previous city budget.
Contractors will address more than 31,000 new slabs of sidewalks, said Ron Brundidge, director of the city’s Department of Public Works. Households will receive notices 1½ weeks before work begins, and another one three days before, he said.
Notices will be translated for Spanish-, Arabic-, Bengali- and French-speaking residents. The city is taking requests for the 2027 construction season, which residents can submit at detroitmi.gov/sidewalks or by calling 313-224-3949.
Terrolyn Campbell-Wheeler, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, also needed repairs in front of her home and along the end of the sidewalk. She said people would have to walk in the street to move around the broken slab, so she emailed the mayor’s office and within 45 minutes, Brundidge responded to her.
“This shows what can happen when leadership not only listens, but hears the voices of the community and I am grateful, as one of the proud residents, to have my sidewalk repaired. And for me, it was because of safety, accessibility and the beautification of our neighborhood,” Campbell-Wheeler said.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit launches $9.5M plan to fix 6,300 broken sidewalks
Reporting by Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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