CLEVELAND — For 12 months, a portion of the West 9th Street sidewalk has been closed, which poses a potential safety risk as it forces pedestrians to walk into traffic to get around it.
Teagan Black has lived on West 9th Street for two years now, walking down the path of that closure twice a day.
"It's kind of become a running joke in our friend group. We're like, is it going to be done by the time we come back from our vacation? Let's bet five bucks that it's going to be done before our wedding, and these are things we were talking about a year ago. It's really just a safety hazard," Black said.
Black told me she's called the city's 311 non-emergency hotline as well as other city officials for help.
"I've really gotten no response about this," she said.
Because of that, she posted her concerns to TikTok this month.
"Sidewalk on West 9th has been closed for a year, which forces people to walk in the road, in the middle of the road. Who do I contact to get this fixed? It’s been a year," Black said in her social media video dated August 3.
Black gained the attention of thousands, including myself when I watched her video earlier this week, so I reached out to the City of Cleveland for answers.
A spokesperson told me by statement, "The City is aware of a blocked sidewalk resulting from ongoing work involving FirstEnergy and Mobile Infrastructure, the property managers of 1240 West 9th Street. Over the past twelve months, the City has repeatedly taken efforts to address the situation, including efforts to secure the site and ensure that appropriate pedestrian detour signage is installed and maintained."
In the year that the chain link fence has been up, though, Black said she has seen little notice that pedestrians are coming up on it.
"No signs other than just this sidewalk closed sign, and half the time it's fallen over on the ground," Black said.
In the comment section of her social media video, she said she has seen others say they've allegedly driven into the fence on a motorized scooter due to the lack of awareness of it.
"They just weren't looking out. It was at night. There's no reflectors or lights on it, and they full on hit the fence," Black said. "In the comments of what I posted, it's people, like, you know, 'I'm in a wheelchair' or 'I have a stroller' or we have a couple of visually impaired people in our building."
A Cleveland spokesperson told me Mobile Infrastructure has been cited for violations.
"Should the responsible party fail to comply with the City’s requirements, the City will pursue all available legal and administrative remedies to achieve compliance and resolve the matter," the city said.
I reached out to Mobile Infrastructure as well. I'm told, "Mobile Infrastructure is aware of the issue, which was related to FirstEnergy’s utility work under the sidewalk. Mobile is and has been in communication with both FirstEnergy and the City of Cleveland to resolve the issue."
Mobile Infrastructure owns a pay-to-park lot located adjacent to the blocked off crosswalk.
FirstEnergy is looking into it and said it will provide information as soon as possible.
Black said all she wants is to see some sort of progress.
"I'm just hoping to get it cleared, and that doesn't come with lack of respect for people that are in public works and do these kinds of jobs. I know they're taxing. I know it's outside. I know there's a lot of work being done all over the city, but a sidewalk is for the safety of the people, and it can be a really busy area," Black said.
There is a crosswalk prior to the blocked off crosswalk that pedestrians can use, but everyone we saw walking around West 9th on Thursday walked into the road to get around the fence.
If I hear or see of any updates, We'll Follow Through.
No word on when the sidewalk will reopen yet, though.
