Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for contacting the Public Works Agency regarding this matter. The maintenance and repair of sidewalks is the responsibility of the property owner per Section 5610 of the California State Street and Highways code and Section 12.04 of the Oakland Municipal Code. These codes require property owners to repair and maintain their sidewalks, except where sidewalk damage is caused by an official City of Oakland tree, in which case the City's current policy is to take on those repairs. If sidewalks are nonexistent, then the owners of the adjacent parcel are responsible for the installation of new sidewalks.

I believe that this patch of missing sidewalk has been reported a number of times on this website.

Here is a link to a City of Oakland leaflet about sidewalks www.panil.org/pdf/CityofOaklandSidewalkPamphlet.pdf‎
It states:
"the City (of Oakland) enforces private repair of sidewalk when sidewalk damage becomes an issue of safety."

The situation is a safety issue: pedestrians are either required to walk in the road or risk injury by walking across the rough uneven ground.

Please can you let us know what action the City is taking to have sidewalk installed along this stretch?

The City of Oakland Public Works Agency has received this issue. It is registered as service request # 497622. Please check back for status updates or contact us directly at (510) 615-5566.

The sidewalk is also missing on 2nd street, around the corner - basically that corner lot has NO sidewalk on any of its adjacent areas (on either Oak, or 2nd street)

View on oak from 2nd looking towards 3rd

View on 2nd st from oak looking towards Madison

Thank you for adding the pictures jz - this helps illustrate just how dangerous this stretch of the road really is. No sidewalk; just uneven dirt track.

My pleasure! Dangerous indeed - the fact that the property on the corner there is allowed to neglect this is beyond frustrating. (to say nothing of that blighted property... /smh)

My friend Mandy and I made a formal compliant and several calls about this 2 years ago-- and still it remains the same! It is very difficult/ dangerous to get by with our baby strollers. I can't even imagine the difficulty for someone with a disability and/or using a wheelchair.

I live at Oak and 3rd street and like to take my baby in a stroller on a waterfront walk every other day. I need to walk down Oak past 2nd street and since there is no sidewalk, I need to stroll my baby in the street with traffic driving by. Definitely not safe. How can we force the owner of that lot to either put a sidewalk in, or sell it to someone who will. Shouldn't the owner be fined???

I had the same issue as concerned father and could not walk with a stroller on the sidewalk between 2nd and 3rd in Oak st. If I couldn't avoid using this route, I had to go around this obstacle by pushing my baby stroller on the street, avoiding oncoming traffic.

This is a dangerous situation not only for parents with children, but also for anyone with mobility issues/disabilities.

City of Oakland - we are taxpayers who need your help in providing the owner(s) of this property with consequences for not abiding by state and city laws. We need to know when and how you will support us with this issue.

If it is the property owner's responsibility to repair/replace the sidewalk, is it the city's responsibility to notify the owner? This property looks abandoned, but I believe it is used as employee parking for The Prevention Institute right next door.

I called into the Oakland Public Works to get an update on this, and I was given the name of a Mr. Lee White who is with the Right of way management department who is responsible for sidewalk installation, phone number 510-238-7288, and left him a message requesting a status update. No reply thus far. I'll keep calling until I get an update, and will post it here when I do. The more people who do the same will only raise this issue's profile.

Spoke with Mr. Lee White today who said this issue was new to him, and that he was going to attempt to make a site visit to see the parcel and missing sidewalk today. Interestingly, he said there's no way for the city to force the landowner to put in "new" sidewalks, but only to upkeep and maintain what is already there - which seems rather baffling. Seeing how there isn't any sidewalks there - apparently we have a Catch-22 / chicken & egg scenario. Here's to hoping something gets done before someone gets hurt due to the lack of sidewalks there on the corner of Oak & 2nd streets.

Good work JZ. Please add any updates you receive from Mr White.

I wonder if there are other avenues we can follow up on this...

The city of Oakland just settled with a biker for over $3 million for a pothole which caused her to crash - i REALLY don't want to see something similar happen on this corner. Neglect like what we're witnessing here on the corner of 2nd & Oak often times leads to outcomes such as that crash & settlement. http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_25386900/oakland-pay-cyclist-3-25-million-pothole-crash

So, no updates to report - the sidewalk is still not installed, and i've not heard back from the city of Oakland, nor Mr. White. And, I'm moving outta town - Good luck Oakland!

Thanks JZ all the best.

Also around the corner on the same property

Also, there are remains of a former sidewalk on 2nd Street. I think the property owner, whether the current or former owner, removed the sidewalk and failed to install a new one. I feel like this is a lot different than not having a sidewalk.

I do wonder why the city is responsible for streets, but the nearest property owner is responsible for sidewalks. Perhaps sidewalks are not considered real transportation,

Sometimes, the city performs the sidewalk repair and bills the owner. Perhaps the city should consider this approach.

This has obviously been an issue for some time, and reported repeatedly here over the last few years. Even if the city isn't directly responsible, shouldn't they at least chase down the property owner? I've seen parents pushing baby strollers in the street to navigate around this stretch, and elderly people struggle walking through it. Probably just a matter of time before someone is injured.

Has anyone looked at the Oakland Library History Room for photos of this location? If we can prove that there used to be a sidewalk, then it seems that the owner is required to replace the removed sidewalk.