Former Mayoral Candidate Sees Fast Action from City After Posting Sad Sidewalk Story

 

[Editor’s note: Yesterday, Pasadena Now published a story by former mayoral candidate Don Morgan about his experience of waiting for 17 months for the City of Pasadena to repair the sidewalk in front of his house after he paid the city $1,700 up front. We also published his photograph of the city’s rep[air, which many readers called “Mickey Mouse” and “shoddy.” Morgan posted the picture and story on his Facebook page, as did Pasadena Now on ours. The post and story have been read over 12,000 times on Pasadena Now. This morning, Morgan updated us on his situation and his thoughts.]

Clearly our experience with sidewalk repair in Pasadena was familiar to many residents. I think many people see these more mundane failures as a concern for the overall health of our community’s ability to solve problems.

I was encouraged to have received almost immediate contact from [City Manager] Michael Beck, [Assistant City Manager] Steve Mermell, and [Councilmember] Andy Wilson. All three were helpful in figuring out why my sidewalk stood untouched for 18 months and why blacktop was applied without any word to us about whether or not it was temporary.

Given the interest we found on Facebook, we were not entirely surprised when we came home the next day to find our sidewalk completely removed and on its way to being appropriately repaired (we hope).

Still no communication from those doing the work, but we assume there is a phase beyond removing sidewalk.

My ongoing concerns fall on a couple of areas. There were far too many people who replied via Facebook about similar experiences. I know this is not the way the City Manager wants the city run. And while we are thrilled to see progress being made on our sidewalk, we are concerned that it required a Facebook post read by thousands of residents. What happens to those who do not have a few thousand Pasadena friends on Facebook?

It is my hope that our city can look for a more systematic way to address basic services so that remedy is not solely dependent on the squeaky wheel getting the grease. The City of Encinitas has a great program where residents can take a picture of sidewalk or street damage on their phones, text to a city hotline, and expect repair within a week. It requires resources, but I can assure you that Encinitas residents have more confidence in their government because they do small things like this well.

We will continue to update on the repair, and look forward to a sustained conversation about this important city issue.