Seniors view Stevenson Place as ‘lawsuit waiting to happen'

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Venture off of Sedgwick Avenue onto the Stevenson Place loop that runs along the edge of Jerome Park, and it is not uncommon to see senior citizens with walkers maneuvering back and forth to avoid the street’s pot holes and unlevel ground, avoiding cars that travel along the one-way corridor. 

For many Sedgwick Avenue residents, the road is the easiest way to reach the JASA Senior Center. While the center’s main entrance is on Sedgwick, senior citizens with difficulty walking often take the back route on Stevenson Place to avoid the front entrance’s stairs and minimize their travel distance. 

But the sidewalk along Stevenson is broken in places, and ends as the road makes a nearly 90-degree curve. As a result, most travelers opt for the lesser of the two dangerous paths. 

“It’s a broken, cruelly unpaved road,” said 86-year-old Stanley Auster, a Sedgwick Avenue resident who often walks the route with friends Lillian Pomerantz, 90 and Lucy Degidan, 72, to and from JASA. 

“It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” added Ms. Pomerantz, who was on her way home from JASA with her two friends on the afternoon of Sept. 11. aided by a cart she uses as a walker. 

Nat Solomon, a resident of 3850 Sedgwick Ave. who has lived in the area for 55 years, says the Department of Transportation (DOT) makes minimal repairs, filling in potholes and covering cracks, but the street quickly deteriorates to its original state after the repairs. 

“This has been like this for years and it’s never been repaved,” he said. “What if someone was walking along here and they fell and broke a hip?” 

He said he recently saw an elderly woman tumble head over heels after hitting a pothole with her walker. Thankfully, he said, the woman was not seriously hurt, but he fears the area could lend itself to other, more serious injuries in the future.

A DOT spokesman said that the department was contacted for the first time last week regarding the road condition at Stevenson Place. The DOT plans to inspect the location and schedule for resurfacing if needed, but did not provide a timeframe. 

Sedgwick Avenue, Stevenson Place, Nat Solomon, JASA Senior Center, Department of Transportation, Maya Rajamani
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