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Troubleshooters Get City to Fix Disabled Vet's Sidewalk

Troubleshooters and City Fix Vet's Sinking Sidewalk
Posted at 6:28 PM, Dec 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-08 19:30:14-05

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A disabled veteran contacted the Troubleshooters asking for help getting his sidewalk fixed.
He claims he’s been trying to get the city to do something about it for eleven years.
So we contacted the city.

This is Armando Guerrero. United States Navy retired.
And this is what his driveway and sidewalk looked like when we first visited November 13rh.
This is what he wanted the Troubleshooters to help him get fixed.

He says it’s sinking, making it difficult to pull in and out of his driveway.
And has always felt it was the city’s responsibility to fix both.

Guerrero-Contacted the Troubleshooters. "I’ve asked. I’ve called. I’ve talked to every department. Every department’s come out here. It’s still looking like this. It still looks the same."

Eleven years.
That’s how long Guerrero claims he’s been fighting city hall to do something.
And why he finally called the Troubleshooters for help.

It’s easy to see these markings on the sidewalk and street in front of his house, proving a city crew has tried to fix it.
"I believe the Water Department came and fixed the water line that Solid Waste ended up busting with their trash truck," Guerrero told us.

Guerrero believes the real problem is a busted water line underground causing the sidewalk and, the driveway, to sink.
He remembers a city crew coming out and running a test.
"They came out and did a test with some kind of gas that they put in there. A smoke is what they did. There was smoke coming out of every crack in the sidewalk."

On November 18th, the Troubleshooters submitted a Public Information Request to the city to see how many times a crew had been sent to Guerrero’s home, and what they did.
But since the city had not responded by Wednesday, December 2nd, we reached out to city manager Peter Zanoni.

On Thursday, December 3rd, a city Public Works crew demo’d the sidewalk in front of Guerrero’s Annaville home.
And on Friday, December 4th, city crews not only re-paved the sidewalk, they also fixed a broken water line underground.
"It was an offset on a sewer main, and that caused the settlement of the ground. And we fixed it with a pipe wrench. The pipe bursting," Jay Martinez, a utility tech told us.

So an eleven year tug-of-war between Armando Guerrero and the city, gets resolved in less than a month, once the Troubleshooters get involved.
And we're glad to help Mr. Guerrero. "Happy ? Oh yeah. I’m very satisfied. It’s amazing. I couldn’t believe they’d come out that quick."