PETPAUSE farewell to the dog days of summer

ELVIS has been spotted at Cedar Creek Lake. We’re talking about the border collie-lab mix, of course. Here, he makes the most of one of the last sultry summer day out on the lake with his Preston Hollow family, MIKE , KAREN , ERIK and BENPETERSON

A GUIDE THROUGH THE MAZE OF CITY-RELATED QUESTIONS

Here’s the most important thing to remember when you want to repair a sidewalk: The City of Dallas will help you fix it, but it will not foot the entire bill. (Unless you live in a low-income area or the city is repairing the utilities beneath your sidewalk or curb.) But knowing that, if you still want your sidewalk to be walkable, here’s how it works:

1. The city gives residents two options: the fast-fix program and the cost-share program.

2. The fast-fix program, as the title suggests, gets the job done more quickly. Citizens pay $4.60 per square foot of sidewalk, plus additional charges for any curb repairs and grass replacements. City staff and contractors will inspect the sidewalk and provide cost estimates, and repairs must be made within two months of the request to protect the price. The payment is made to contractors, who work through Dallas Water and Utilities, and work should be completed within two weeks of payment.

3. In the cost-share program, citizens pay for half the costs — $2.80 per square foot of sidewalk — and the city pays for the other half. The cost- share program usually involves an entire street, block or neighborhood and typically takes one or two years. The city determines an area that needs sidewalk repairs, sends out letters to residents living in that area to find out if they want to go ahead with repairs; if so, residents have 30 days to pay their half of the cost. After the letters have been sent and money collected, it takes eight to 12 months to get a contract set up.

4. Even though the city mostly relies on residents to take the initiative in sidewalk repairs, residents can still be cited by the city and possibly fined for having damaged sidewalks, because of the risk of someone becoming hurt and both the city and homeowner facing a civil suit.

5. For information about either program, contact James Dowdy with the city’s public works and transportation department at 214.948.4287.