Thank you for your request (#23-01-0088) to help ensure Alameda’s sidewalks are as safe as possible. Given we receive hundreds of these requests per year on virtually every stretch of Alameda’s 260 miles of sidewalk, your electronic submission goes a long way to helping you and Public Works track the request.

Your request is being assigned to our Public Works Supervisor Patrick Papalagi. Per Alameda’s municipal code and state law, property owners are responsible for the sidewalk adjacent to their property. As a courtesy, the City completes sidewalk repairs when the repair has been caused by a City-maintained street tree. Thus, the City will inspect the repair to evaluate if it has been caused by a City-maintained street tree. If the repair is not caused by a City-maintained tree, the owner will be sent a notice to repair the sidewalk.

If the repair has been caused by a City-maintained street tree, Public Works Street Supervisor Patrick Papalagi and his maintenance staff will install a temporary make-safe, such as grinding the sidewalk, inserting an asphalt fillet, or removing the damaged sidewalk section and re-pouring a temporary asphalt patch. These temporary measures are typically completed within 30 days of a requests’ submission, and then the location is placed on the City’s permanent repair list.

A permanent repair is when new concrete is poured to fix the sidewalk. The locations of these repairs, and their quantity, are chosen based on limited available funds and usually completed in order of the repair’s submission date. While Public Works had doubled its annual repair rate in recent years, there remains a significant backlog in excess of $10 million in sidewalk repairs due to many years of underinvestment.

Thank you in advance for your help (and patience) in maintaining Alameda’s sidewalks. If you have any further questions, please call 747-7900 and ask for Public Works Supervisor Patrick Papalagi.