Community Organizer Blames City for 19th Street Sidewalk Delays

City Council Tuesday heard an update on the planned installation of sidewalks on W 19th Street between Bryant and the railroad west of Lillie Street. City Engineer Karl Bednarz made the presentation, alerting Council to the project’s current standing and estimated costs, as well as outlining potential problems that could hinder forward motion on the project.

Potential complications were identified as legal issues pertaining to the right of way needed to build the sidewalks and obtaining the paperwork necessary from property owners permitting the City to build on their land, as well as obstructions that would hinder construction.

In his presentation, Bednarz explained that at least 10 feet of right of way are needed in order to lay the sidewalks, however there are currently only 2 feet available. In order to proceed, property owners would have to donate 8 feet of their land to the City for the planned sidewalk project. 

In addition to that complication, Bednarz showed pictures taken of 19th Street where trees, signs, telephone poles and other obstructions lie within a few feet of the street, explaining that these blockages would cause problems for crews that would have to work around them in order to put the sidewalk down. In later clarification, Bednarz stated that the project would include installing sidewalks only on the south side of the street.

Jerry Sea, a senior leader of the West Texas Organizing Strategy, approached Council during public comment with concerns over Bednarz’s presentation. “There’s no obstructions on the south side of the street. The pictures you’re showing…that’s down on the north side of the street,” Sea said. “I don’t see no reason for this project not go forward to immediately. This can has been kicked down the road enough.“

Sea pointed out that the project has been ‘kicked around’ for at least three years now, and that he and another member of the West Texas Organizing Strategy have walked the street and spoken with homeowners, who have apparently been waiting for some time on paperwork from the City for the project to move forward. Bednarz’s presentation, Sea said, is just another excuse to “keep kicking the can down the road”.

“There is plenty of right of way, there is only one…place that might encroach on the placement of the sidewalk, but hey, we can live with that,” Sea said. “At least when it’s raining people won’t slip…”

The project was initially presented to Council in September 2013, at which time it was also approved. The photos shown on Tuesday, Bednarz said, stem from that first presentation. 

Bednarz has been with the City for approximately five months now, and was not aware that the photos did not represent the area the City is dealing with, he said.

As far as the right of way issue, there are 27 properties that line the length of the proposed proposed project area. Bednarz said that while Sea and the WTOS may have walked the street and spoken to tenants, he wasn't certain that they'd spoken to the actual property owners, many of which live out of town.

"We're trying to find them (the owners)," Bednarz said Friday in a telephone interview. "Roughly half of those live there--they have a San Angelo address, anyway. The other half do not, from what we're seeing."

Bednarz added that should his team be unable to locate even a single property owner, the project will be slowed. "We have to talk to them," he said. "We just want to do it (the project) one time. We need to negotiate with the person that actually owns the property."

Mayor Morrison suggested at the Tuesday Council meeting that Bednarz and the City's engineering department work with WTOS on the project, as leaders from the organization have already made contact with residents. 

"Mainly the instruction we gave was to get this done, get these easements bought, get this thing done," Mayor Morrison said in a telephone interview. "They (the City) have not done as much as we had hoped that they would do." 

Bednarz said Tuesday that his staff will work on design while the legal issues are being addressed. The process, he says, should take about three to four months. 

The sidewalk project on 19th Street is estimated to cost $136,000.