Scaled down sidewalk plan is better than none

It’s a small step in the right direction.
City officials wisely decided to abandon an ambitious three-year citywide sidewalk replacement plan that would have cost homeowners a bundle of money.
This is not the time to sock folks with large bills, considering we are still suffering from an economic setback brought on by the ongoing COVID crisis.
The City of Oak Park also scrapped a similar plan after public backlash.
A lot of folks are broke right now because they are either laid off, or have had their work hours reduced.
It’s going to take a while before we all get back on our feet.
So the city did the next best thing and scaled back the plan, and will now dip into state road repair monies that it gets every year.
This year, $100,000 will be spent – which is just a drop in the bucket for a project of this scale.
The only slabs that will be replaced are those that are broken or raised.
We are, after all, a walkable community, and it makes no sense to have sidewalks slabs that pose a danger to pedestrians.
It’s better to have some kind of repair plan in place rather than none – no matter how meager it may appear.
Posted April 2, 2021