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Detroit responds after neighbors say temporary fix on sidewalk is a blunder

Posted at 6:07 PM, Aug 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-22 18:18:15-04

City of Detroit officials may have thought they were mitigating the danger on a hazardous sidewalk when they had crews apply cold patch as a temporary fix to the trip hazards, but it had some neighbors calling Action News again.

"This is laughable," said William Eckel who posted videos of the dangerous sidewalk on Facebook. "A five-year-old could do a better job than this."

"The kids can still trip and fall," said Ieshia Fulgham who has to face the sidewalk everyday with her children and grandchildren on Minock near Warren on the city's west side.

City officials emphasized that the portion of the sidewalk in question is on the list to be permanently replaced in the next three years as part of a 3-year plan to replace 250,000 damaged sidewalk slabs throughout the city. They could not say when that permanent fix on Minock street was set to take place, adding that the cold patch was just supposed to be temporary to mitigate the danger.

But it was clear that if the sidewalk, buckling because of the roots of a large tree on city property, was a trip hazard before, it's still one now.

Tuesday afternoon, after some more consideration by city officials, we've been told that they have decided that they would begin the work to permanently replace the damaged sidewalk this week.

Anyone who believes a portion of sidewalk is so dangerous that it requires an emergency repair or replacement should call the City of Detroit at 313-224-3901.