Comments on: San Jose homeowners on the hook for fixing sidewalks

By: Kent

Kent — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:25:48 +0000

Taxpaying Citizens……The City is ripping us off ! Now they want to make us responsible for trees they planted like the invasive species Chinese Tallow Trees that crack the sidewalks because the City Arborist was incompetent allowing these poisonous trees that ruin infrastructure and that are outlawed in many places. Passing their responsibility on to us taxpayers for their incompetence. Remove your Council Representative from office for allowing this unjust and over reaching scam the City is trying to pull. Just like their ripoff scam of Micro-surfacing streets that are all cracked up and need to be properly fixed. Don’t let the Bully City of San Jose get away with spending our tax dollars on fireworks parties that start fires and scare our pets or allow illegal parking of oversize vehicles crack our streets and lower property values at our expense. We have the right to quality of life and public safety over the City of San Jose’s idea to pay for their responsibilities because they are incompetent. Hiring people who are not qualified to do the job is the City of San Jose’s downfall and my honest opinion. Don’t punish the taxpaying citizens for your lack of knowledge and huge costly mistakes San Jose.

By: C L

C L — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 02:52:33 +0000

Sounds like taxes.

By: Miss Moi

Miss Moi — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 20:05:33 +0000

Smh running out of ways to take our money. Property taxes, sales taxes,420 taxes, taxes for everything but what they should go to or are intended for. 4th LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD! Start organizing on a block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood level. Start leaving on each other to make repairs to your community. PGE, San Jose water, and every municipality are corrupted. Nothing is going towards our communities. Stop paying taxes

By: Richard Winslow

Richard Winslow — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:19:22 +0000

I have been tagged for $15,000 in curb and sidewalk repairs as well as another $5,000 to $10,000 to address the offending trees. I am retired trying to make my 40 years of hard work and savings carry my wife and I through our remaining years. These are stated public right of ways which should be maintained by the city using funds from all citizens. If this is privately maintained, I should make the call whether to install and maintain curbs and sidewalks, not the other way around. The city just repaved the streets and installed ADA ramps yet skipped the broken curbs inches away.

Per Vincente’s reporting, the city approved 124 properties for assistance with $400k in funding which is $3,226 per homeowner. I really won the lottery with upwards of $20,000 of repairs.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 15:24:30 +0000

The city requires the homeowner to foot the bill for sidewalk repairs caused by city planted tree roots and Garbage collection trucks that tear-up the curbs. Another money making scam along with permit fees to cut down a tree that is causing the safety problem

By: Margaret Petros

Margaret Petros — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:23:25 +0000

I don’t understand how elected officials who make such corrupt decisions get away with it? The public has the rights to walk on sidewalks, therefore maintenance must be paid with public funds. This is why homeowners pay all sort of municipalities taxes. Give hardworking people a break. Stop the wasteful spending of public money to attend to common sense spending. This is so wrong. It’d be good to trace this decision to its origin and who voted for it and what private interest they had in it.

By: Mike Beranek

Mike Beranek — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:01:17 +0000

The cost and contracting of public sidewalk repairs and replacements on public rights-of-way should never, ever be dependent on private parties, for any reason. This is the municipality’s responsibility and, in my part of the country, is paid for with motor fuel tax.

By: willow glen Rich

willow glen Rich — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:48:37 +0000

This is not news. Sidewalk repairs have been the responsibility of homeowners for decades.

By: Guy

Guy — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:47:10 +0000

I smell a scam. About ten years ago my address (using that term as opposed to “property” since the sidewalk, driveway approach, curb and gutter are all city owned even though the expense of maintaining them is assigned to the homeowner) was tagged for replacement of a section of sidewalk, along with half of the curb and gutter.

Curiously, I received a quote in the mail from a contractor within a month of receiving the formal notice from the city, which contained a list of contractors they recommend. Ever since, when I see sidewalk work being performed, it’s always being done by this same contractor (initials between A and D), who is on the list in the formal notice.

Bottom line is that the city should foot the bill for this portion of its infrastructure, or at the very least absorb the curb and gutter costs, particularly when it’s their fault for planting trees with roots that go outward instead of downward.

By: Joe Smith

Joe Smith — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:13:28 +0000

Why don’t we use the $3 million we are planning to flush down the toilet on lawyers for illegal aliens, and instead spend the money to fix these sidewalks, which will benefit the general public?