Those of you who walk or bike along Gold Way will have noticed that the sidewalk had become so overgrown that it was impassable.  Yes, there is actually a nice wide paved sidewalk to the right of that guardrail in the above photo!  But this summer, pedestrians have had no choice but to walk in the road–pretty scary, on a blind curve where cars regularly drive too fast.  Repeated 311 requests to have the sidewalk cleared went unaddressed, so we decided to start the process ourselves.

Gold Way is not actually part of Polish Hill (it’s Oakland), but it’s a gateway to our neighborhood and an essential footpath for our residents.  So, on Saturday, a small group from the Polish Hill Green Team spent a few hours to start the process of excavating the sidewalk.  Not only had the knotweed and other brush grown over the sidewalk, but the dead brush from the last time the City cleared the path many months ago was left where it fell.  Someone had also dumped bags of waste from a building demolition.

A pedestrian who came along while the crew were working said that he was not aware there was a sidewalk along this road!  The Green Team crew spent a few hours cutting brush, knotweed, and cleared a long section of sidewalk to provide a guide for the City crews.  We have sent a request to the City to finish the job and clear the cut materials from the sidewalk.  We’ll let you know how that goes.