No more cracks, no more possible broken backs, to paraphrase the old child’s rhyme.
The construction process to redo the sidewalks around P. S. 160 in Co-op City has begun.
After local Assemblyman Michael Benedetto vented frustration at a press conference in late May at the Departments of Education and Transportation disputing which agency was responsible for repairs of the sidewalk,
Benedetto contacted New York City’s representatives in Albany and began discussing the dangerous situation the unrepaired sidewalks presented for students and Co-op City residents.
Benedetto pointed out that Co-op City has a large senior citizen and handicapped population and that numerous people had fallen in and around the school.
“New York City was leaving themselves open to a potentially large lawsuit,” said Benedetto. “I think they understood that reasoning.”
P.S. 160 school officials had been requesting for a number of years that repairs be made, but their calls were left unanswered.
The school’s parent association president Elizabeth Penn said she had pictures of residents who had fallen on the sidewalk, and was concerned about the well-being of the school children, many of them physically disabled.
During the school’s graduation ceremony, Benedetto announced that the multi-year struggle to fix the sidewalk would soon be over.
“I was hoping that it was going to happen,” Benedetto said. “But I didn’t think that it would happen this quick. I want to thank all those who helped bring this battle to a successful end, the Department of Education officials in Albany and the City who I talked with, the school officials who did the proper paperwork, Ms. Penn and the Parents Association for providing good backup.
