@mbilalmahmood: There are more than 12,000 open requests for sidewalk repairs in San Francisco. Broken sidewalks pose a hazard to seniors, people with disabilities, young children. So why are so many not fixed? We held a hearing at the Board of Supervisors recently, and found that the city doesn't have enough workers to keep up with the repair requests: the Public Works Cement Shop has 17 vacant positions. To address this, we need to reallocate budget to hiring for these positions. And we don't need more money to do it - the city actually pays out nearly $1 million a year in sidewalk related settlements. We can simply reallocate that money into hiring faster today, instead of having to pay out settlements tomorrow. In the interim, if you see a damaged sidewalk, report it to 311. And if you or someone you know is interested in becoming a cement mason, apply at careers.sf.gov!
Bilal Mahmood
Region: US
Saturday 07 November 2026 16:20:00 GMT
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Mark O. :
You’ve been a Supervisor for nearly TWO YEARS. Why haven’t you fixed this yet???
2026-11-09 00:35:27
1
keylogger :
there are trees that have roots that grow down and not out
2026-11-07 20:28:22
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tooheavey :
Why not just sub out the work to LBE concrete contractors ? How long would it take to address all cases if they had the full staff?
2026-11-07 23:01:57
1
Israel Cisneros :
How is the man somehow a parody of himself
2026-11-08 18:24:39
0
Keane Li :
I don’t notice them until I’m walking with an older person and then I suddenly notice all of them. Very dangerous.
2026-11-09 05:39:51
1
San Francisco Real Estate Agen :
Let contractors put in bids for the work and they would all get done in a couple of months for a fraction of the price, but that’s none of my business.
2026-11-07 21:30:56
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tomo :
so many comments saying what they think it is when the simple answer is literally in the video😭 public works is just not hiring enough
2026-11-07 19:37:22
27
Corey :
Did Lurie lay them off?
2026-11-07 21:08:07
15
Jack :
I was required to pay for sidewalk repairs in front of my home, told that it’s a homeowner responsibility not a city one. Why are these 12k violators not required to do the same
2026-11-07 17:27:08
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JeromeLee :
What do you expect when you plant trees surrounded by concrete?
2026-11-08 15:57:37
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Khristopher Khristianson :
The best part the taxes go to none of this stuff
2026-11-07 22:53:44
7
user1033403526884 :
Why are you leaving out that the sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of the building owner?
2026-11-07 19:41:05
3
jorgenxichu :
one main reason is planting the wrong trees
2026-11-08 02:40:46
4
Lyt Kevin :
I'd say it's because we have horrible representation in every aspect
2026-11-07 19:25:17
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Run Rabbit Run :
Can those employees even afford to live in this city any longer?
2026-11-07 22:02:03
3
ed :
the city doesn't pay the home owners are forced to pay for it, they can choose to use the city to fix it or get a contractor, which do you think is the cheaper option. maybe the city should just fix it with that money instead, it's not staffing
2026-11-07 18:02:38
3
Sapo All Natural :
From Gemini:
While SF Public Works manages a total operating budget of $428.5 Million for FY 2025–26 and $476.6 Million for FY 2026–27, personnel accounts for the vast majority of their direct departmental operational costs.
• Citywide Baseline Baseline Comparison: Across all combined SF municipal services, salaries and fringe benefits absorb roughly 47% of total city spending. For a department heavily dependent on manual field labor like Public Works, this ratio leans even higher on pure operational services.
Salaries:
56.6% is the actual percentage spent on Total Labor (Personnel) when you combine base salaries with mandatory municipal fringe benefits like healthcare and pensions.
2026-11-08 16:28:53
1
Tia 🆘🇺🇸 :
In soma there are also several streets with very steep step from the sidewalk to the street and so many ppl trip hard. Also some of the granite/marvle sidewalk is super slippery when it’s raining
2026-11-07 22:30:12
1
JSF :
maybe if we stop putting in bike lanes and taking away car lanes we can use that money to fix what needs to be fixed
2026-11-07 17:01:32
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Garlic :
Call Mamdani
2026-11-07 21:30:39
1
NICKY STARR :
It all these trees roots that shouldn't be in the city wrong tree were planted and most of these requests are repeated ones like in Glen Park I know for a fact we have done over 100 on 1 tree
2026-11-08 18:04:33
1
Ruby42 :
$11.7 would Fix a lot of sidewalks...
2026-11-07 21:41:53
1
molsie :
The city should contract with existing cement masons. When we were responsible for maintaining the sidewalks in front of our buildings, it was not a problem to find someone to do the work. By shifting the responsibility to the city, we now think we need employees. Just use contractors!
2026-11-08 17:54:33
1
Tony_SF :
You ought to also work with city planning at DBI. My neighbor had a renovation and was required to plant a tree in front of the house, which was all fine and good. But city planning rejected many trees that our neighbor selected from the "San Francisco approved trees for sidewalk list" because they were too small. He wanted a nice big tree, even though the plot for the tree was right next to a power pole with electrical and Internet wires. In the end, he approved a magnolia. While it is beautiful, it has strong but shallow roots. I have seen lots of older magnolia pushing up the sidewalk. Besides the broken sidewalk problems in the future, I pray that it won't become a source of fire hazard growing around all the electrical junction boxes and wires. My neighbor actually took pictures of the wires and warned the city planner about them. His response: That's PG&E's and the city's problem. What he couldn't care less was it would be our houses and our lives getting burned down.
So, first, the list of trees should focus on trees compatible with planting on the sidewalk. Second, city planners should take into account electrical fire hazards. They are extremely dictatorial in rejecting numerous smaller and more appropriate trees that are already on the approved tree species for the sidewalk that they themselves published.
2026-11-08 07:21:18
1
BitchieRichie :
and your district rent prices have rise my 12% in the last year.
2026-11-07 19:55:43
2
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