Peabody Council votes to wait on sidewalks

PEABODY-Peabody sidewalks will have to wait until at least the next meeting of the Municipal Safety Committee before seeing any much-needed repairs after the City Council voted Thursday to move the ongoing issue to the Committee.The vote came after councilors decided recommendations and cost estimates presented in a memo from Public Services Director Dick Carnevale needed further discussion.?Some of these figures don?t make sense,” said Ward 1 Councilor Barry Osborne, who has long supported sidewalk repairs. “It?s easy to say it?ll cost us a lot of money, so we can?t do it, but it?s going to keep costing us money until we do.”The Council is contemplating the idea of repairing sidewalks throughout the city in lieu of paving any streets in 2008. According to Carnevale?s memo, an estimated $7.3 million would be needed to repair approximately 93 miles of sidewalks. He said the cost is nearly 10 times the annual amount of Chapter 90 funding allocated to the city by the Massachusetts Highway Department.?Using these funds for sidewalks would not have an appreciable impact on the overall repair status,” Carnevale wrote. “Due to potholes and road deterioration, I recommend these funds be used for the traditional paving projects to reduce city liability and to improve overall safety conditions.”Carnevale said that such traditional methods involve using in-house forces to repairs streets and the sidewalks that run along them simultaneously. He said doing so has increased the number of sidewalk repairs and decreased backlog each year. Last year, 490 sidewalk repairs were completed, as opposed to 163 in 2004.Osborne said he appreciated Carnevale?s efforts, but said he would like to see a “more aggressive plan.”?We need to start planning on maintaining our infrastructure or it?s going to cost us more than we?ll ever want to spend,” he said.