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Sidewalk headaches: Westgate neighbors frustrated with city of Omaha

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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Last month, Westgate neighbor Julena Reznicek received a letter from the city that stated the sidewalk adjacent to her property needed to be fixed in 20 days or be fined.

In that letter, the city stated it found cracking and scaling on the sidewalks near her property. Although the patches in her sidewalk are now fixed, Reznicek said getting to that point caused her a lot of stress.

"So to come home to a certified letter and have to sign for that," she said.

Wanda Koory has had similar issues and said she too received a letter from the city about her sidewalk and driveway approach. The city also told her she had 20 days to fix her sidewalk and 30 days for her driveway approach.

"This would be our bill. The total is $1,867," said Koory.

The city said that sidewalks need to be repaired when any part is cracked, raised, or sunken. City officials told KMTV they treat all sidewalk complaints across the city the same and that they only inspect a sidewalk when a complaint is made.

While the deadline to get sidewalks repaired is 20 days, the city says that they will work with neighbors if there is a need to extend the deadline.

For Reznicek and Koory, it's both a lesson learned and a desire for things to be changed in the future. She suggests a program that catches issues before they turn into expensive repairs.

"I want them to work better with the community and have some sort of relationship or have the city come out and say every six months and say 'Hey, these are problem areas,'" said Reznicek.

Koory said she hired a private contractor to repair her sidewalk and driveway approach. Reznicek said she repaired it herself.

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