New Orleans East residents concerned over sinking sidewalk
Timothy Tero has lived on Sierra Madre Drive in New Orleans East for 30 years, but for the past 11 months, he's been dealing with a major issue — the sidewalk in front of his home is sinking.
"I noticed the sidewalk had started sinking back in August; that's when I initially called," said Tero.
After noticing the major depression forming on his front lawn from the sinking sidewalk, he reached out to the Sewerage and Water Board in August of 2023.
"I spoke to six customer service reps. Nobody could tell me what the status is," said Tero.
Eventually, SWBNO sent out a crew in March of this year to conduct a CCTV test.
"Blue flash came out; that's the company that SWBNO contracts with to do videos," he said. "So they did the video, they said they had a breakage here and a breakage in the street. SWBNO video specialists came out, also indicating that they had a breakage in the street. I had my own plumbing company come out, do a video, breakage in the street."
His plumber made his own assessment.
"A plumber told me that I have a better chance of moving than them coming out and fixing the street," Tero said.
Since the revelation that there are multiple line breakages, he hasn't been able to get another crew to come out and do the repair work. He says each time he calls, all he is told is that the work order is being escalated.
"It's sad," he said. "It's a management problem, not the workers because the workers are only coming out doing what they're told to do."