I agree, excellent topic.

You can say that homeowners are responsible for maintenance of sidewalks all you want. It takes one drive through these neighborhoods to see either EVERY homeowner is in violation and needs to be written by the city OR the City needs to fix the sidewalks. You can't just let them crumble away and grow forests of weeds.

And if a pedestrian were to trip on those weeds or a hole in the sidewalk they were growing out of and break a leg, who gets sued? Ansonia or the homeowner? Wouldn't the city letting that situation go unchecked be a party to the suit?

Fred, I also have to agree that while I am encouraged about downtown news, $500,000 is maybe a TENTH of what it will take to tear down and clean up the land where those abandoned factories are.

I didn't realize Cassetti owned a construction company until recently. I trust they can lay new sidewalks?

Fred,

Healey Ford has been cleared of weeds/brush. Drove by a couple of hours ago. Think it was done today..

With Target and Big Y nearby one would think the Healey Ford site would be a good place to take down and put up a good size shopping center. Not big enough for a supermarket but...

However, with so many being built these days on Pershing what tenants would line up I'm not sure of.

While I appreciate a discussion of other problems in Ansonia... I had intended this to be a discussion of the conditions of sidewalks in the city. Can anyone shed light on that issue?

Thanks!

The side walk is the responsibility of the city. You may be upset with the slow progress but there is progress. I have personally seen the sidewalks being sprayed and some side walks are being repaired.

Upon further inspection of this piece of sidewalk, I discovered a MAJOR cause of the weeds if a big hole THE CITY tore open at the corner to put in a new street sign. They didn't even bother to patch the hole and now a ton of weeds are growing from it around the sign base.

What a way to handle sidewalks. Tear them open, not repair the damage, let them get overgrown with weeds, etc.

And LeiAngel, I appreciate your comment but it's nearing the end of August. When is Ansonia going to spray for weeds.. after the first frost this fall!?

Have you seen the city workers?? They are overweight and slow. They all gather at Eddy's at around 9:30 to stuff their face with coffee and pastries. Then when they finally do work its one guy working and two or three other guys watching. I see it all the time. I did see work getting done more now than before. The weeds are finally getting some attention. I didn't noticed how bad it was until you mentioned it. The weeds really are taking over. Its out of control now and a bit too late. What happens when the weeds die off? Are they going to remove them or is it going to just sit there.

Forgot to add I saw three weedkiller trucks out since this post went up.

The weedkiller trucks can stop as a killing frost will hit before they get halfway done. What a screw up. You spray for weeks in June, not late August!

Homeowners are responsible for their own sidewalks. If someone gets hurt the homeowner gets sued. I believe sidewalk spraying was a courtesy given by the former mayor paid by the tax payers. I am so afraid of what is coming up ahead of us for winter. Will they wait for Spring to clear the snow?!

Dmmilt, I hear you.

However it is VERY clear driving around neighborhoods with sidewalks in Ansonia that homeowners are NOT AWARE they are responsible for the sidewalks in front of their home. They view it as part of the street.

In fact, when Platt Street had an oil spill over a decade ago, one side of the street received all new sidewalks as part of the replacement of the road. That would echo the idea that "sidewalks and streets" are Ansonia's to maintain.

There are so many homes with crumbling and dangerous sidewalks in front of them, I have no idea why the city doesn't simply send notices to a select number of homeowners (one neighborhood at a time) and make them aware their sidewalk is unsafe and they are liable for injuries.

HOWEVER, some guidelines must be provided. We can't have each homeowner running to Home Depot or Lowe's for bags of concrete and "make their own sidewalks" each with different materials, heights and qualities. There need to be set specs.

Well I return years later as I watch weeds grow up in every possible rack in the sidewalks you can find. Most of this is caused by sidewalks that are deteriorating so badly weeds are coming up around telephone poles, cracks, street signs it anywhere else they can (visit Platt, Hodge or Columbia for prime examples)

The sidewalks remain unrepaired which would seal most of the spots weeds could grow out of and Ansona homeowners in many areas still are oblivious to the fact that they are responsible for the maintenance and repair of sidewalks for their property. I find this impossible to understand as the city could notify them quite easily with just a simple letter. Until then we have weeds growing up everywhere truly making city streets look unkept.

Does the city have a solution other than "the sidewalks belong to the homeowners to maintain" which is failing. If we could enforce the parking ban late winter and tow cars is in mass to teach lessons we can fine homeowners with sidewalks beggin for a pedestrian to trip and break their leg and certainly suing the city first for they injures right or wrong.

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