QUESTION: Who should be responsible for the maintenance of the sidewalk in front of your home? The homeowner or the city?
© Copyright 2007 – 2025 Claycord News & Talk
Subscribe to our newsletter!
QUESTION: Who should be responsible for the maintenance of the sidewalk in front of your home? The homeowner or the city?
Subscribe to our newsletter!
© Copyright 2007 – 2025 Claycord News & Talk
CITY ! ! That is if we had a sidewalk . . . .
The city
The sidewalk is a public right of way easement, so I say the municipality
that owns the sidewalk should be responsible. Unfortunately, the law
doesn’t agree with me. The law says the homeowner is responsible for
repairs and keeping it clear of hazards such as overhanging tree
branches, overgrown hedges, and debris. The homeowner can be held
liable if a pedestrian should trip and fall.
That’s what an easement is. It’s something you own but anyone on the planet can use. You own it, therefore you are responsible for it.
the beauty is, you need a permit (pay for permission) should you need to repair the sidewalk
The city should, we are all out here paying property taxes for them to do that instead of farming it out to a bunch of sub contractors.
Not so long ago, the Martinez City Council agreed to eliminate a code enforcement fee of several hundred dollars for sidewalk repair and replacement. That was a clear disincentive for property owners to make the repairs to the public sidewalks adjacent to their properties. They still have to pay for the repairs, but at least they don’t have to pay the City for the privilige. On the other hand, property owners should accept responsiblity for keeping the sidewalks clean and free of debris. The streetsweeper only comes through once a month, if that. We can’t really expect the City to sweep all of the sidewalks every few days.
The city… They built it they should maintain it
so…. I am going to double down on the fact the city needs to do their job here. I just rode my bike down Clayton rd between Treat and Ygnacio and you cannot ride in the street so you have to ride on the sidewalk. The thing is atrocious…. I am sure they weren’t trying for speed bumps but they sure have them. They spent millions on the curb entrances to provide for the handicap “and they are nice” but they don’t seem to care about the rest. There is a 24″ hump “one of many, just to point out ” in front of the old feed store (auto repair now with bowling ally in the back” and let’s slop some asphalt on the bad transitions to make people feel happy “so stupid”. The answer is YES the city should fix this this crap as they are responsible for it and we pay taxes for it. no excuses.
The county – that’s who we all pay our property taxes too. I know they distribute the money to cities and state but they keep the bulk of the tax money.
The city…. we didn’t authorize or design it