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Eyewitness Wants To Know: New sidewalk lasts four days before demolition

Picture this: A fire station still under construction gets a brand new sidewalk on Monday, but just four days later, the concrete is ripped out by a demolition crew.

Picture this: A fire station still under construction gets a brand new sidewalk on Monday, but just four days later, the concrete is ripped out by a demolition crew.

"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it and at first, I thought, this is typical of the city wasting our taxpayer money," said Dan Martinez, an East San Antonio community activist.

The problem started at the fire station No. 30 construction site at the corner of South WW White Road and Rice Road. Martinez said that the sidewalk appeared to be finished in a professional manner.

“I was shocked when they started excavating and breaking it all up again, pulling out all the steel, starting from scratch again because to me, knowing what the cost of construction is, it's a lot of money involved,” said Martinez, who reached out to the District 2 council office for help but said that he received no answers about what went wrong.

Courtesy of the City of San Antonio

The city did provide KENS 5 an explanation of the issue in the form of a graphic detailing why the project was rejected as unacceptable.

A city spokesman said that the specifications on the contract called for the edge of the curb to have a certain curve, with a four-inch radius.

They said the edge of the curb was too sharp, so the whole thing had to go. They also said when the angle is off, the curb can damage wheels or tires.

There was also a problem with the finished height of the project. The sidewalk was supposed to be seven inches high and the city said it was six.

The city spokesman said that the money for the revision will not come out of taxpayer pockets. The burden will be shouldered by the firm that made the error.

The concrete sub-contractor involved declined a KENS request for an on-camera interview, but off-camera they said because they are a reputable firm, they wanted to fix the issue right away.

The firm tore out the faulty sidewalk last Friday and poured the new sidewalk on Monday. The general contractor said that the job was done right the second time.

If you have an issue for Eyewitness Wants to Know, simply email: ewtk@kens5.com or call 210-377-8647.

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