Taxpayer Watch: Bad sidewalk unrepaired after repeated complaints

Linarez has lived there more than 30 years and was surprised when it happened.

"Just one day, it just went up," he said about the sidewalk.

Ever since, he has been concerned that it constitutes a safety hazard.

"People have to go out in the street to get around it. There are a lot of mothers with strollers. I don't see it as safe," he said.

He first reported it to the city more than two years ago, he said, and has reported it "at least five times" altogether. "They say, 'You're on the list.' I call again - 'You're on the list.' That's it. Nothing happens," Linarez said.

The last complaint about that sidewalk on record with the Transportation Department was filed in March 2009 - more than 15 months ago, said Michael Graham, a spokesman for the Tucson Department of Transportation.

As of June 30, the department had 3,100 open work orders, of which 189 were for concrete, the category under which sidewalks fall, Graham said.

The section of workers responsible for such repairs has gone from 23 people to 12 in the past two years due to retirements and staff cutbacks, he wrote in a follow-up e-mail.

Meanwhile, that group of workers is responsible for a plethora of repairs, including asphalt repaving for Tucson Water line breaks and maintenance, concrete pads for Sun Tran bus stops, drainage ways, chip-seal projects, median island weeds, fixing potholes and several other tasks, Graham wrote.

Crews are currently working on East Pima Street, East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street to repair buckled sidewalks before school starts, he said.

As for the sidewalk near Linarez's home, it's pretty much what Linarez already has been told.

A work order was created in March 2009, Graham wrote.

"Other higher-priority work for the Special Projects Section has delayed work at this location," he wrote. "There is no timetable for when this work may begin."