AVELLA BLASTS DOT ON CURB REPAIRS

The city Department of Transportation (DOT) has a great citizen-friendly street-care-repair policy—if you report that the curb in front of your home needs fixing, the report will be entered into its database and will be repaired in the order in which it was called in.

Problem is, according to state Senator Tony Avella (D–Northeast Queens), at least in the Bellerose section of his district, the DOT has a 23-year backlog on repairing reported broken curbs.

Now Avella has joined with frustrated homeowners to accelerate their curb repair program.

“DOT is failing in their responsibility to fix and install these curbs. Unfortunately, it’s the homeowner who suffers in the form of sidewalks and streets that quickly wear away, and flooding from the street into their homes. DOT needs to stop ignoring its infrastructure and start doing simple things like curb repair rather than taking on pet projects like adding bike lanes. A 23-year backlog is horrendous and unacceptable. The timetable for these projects needs to be accelerated immediately.”

Avella also pointed out two flaws in DOT’s program: the homeowner must repair any broken sidewalk in front of the home before DOT will build a new curb there; and some residents reporting curb complaints sometimes receive a defective sidewalk violation from a DOT inspector.