As Bob Goff once said, “Our failures can leave behind pavement or potholes. Our ability to receive grace determines which it will be.” Being born and raised in Corona, Queens, New York, it is my home. Remember the number of times I fell walking, and running on the sidewalks. Always trip on my scooter because of the pavement. Twisting my ankle a few months ago along with my grandmother spraining her ankle. It can all be fixed with just your help! In Corona, Queens, New York, sidewalks are at different levels causing many a part of our community to fear walking around without falling. While some may argue that it’s typically a natural cause for uneven pavement. While that may be true, it doesn’t diminish the fact many are getting injured and forced to adapt to uneven surfaces. Throughout the past week I have, I have seen thirteen, in counting, people trip and fall on the same sidewalk. To fix this, we can replace overgrown trees and fix our sidewalks while doing so, I know we have systems in place already however it is not doing enough for those around us. Therefore, we should add signs to warn others about the uneven pavements ahead of them.

In Corona, Queens NY, uneven pavements are causing many citizens to stumble and fall, increasing injuries and causing more needed adaptations. Currently, many overgrown trees in the area cause elevation change in pavements. Moreover, many citizens unfamiliar with the area/community and are above the age of 65, tend to fall the most. According to the National Library of Medicine, “ Walking on uneven terrain… is unique because the surfaces are typically compliant, non-uniform, and, therefore unpredictable. The characteristics of uneven terrain…make anticipation of task demands, particularly challenging.” (2018). To put it in another way, the unpredictableness of uneven pavements can become challenging for specifically adults and seniors and tend to build more anticipation. This is critical because “anticipation” means expectations or prediction of what is going to happen. Due to an increase in anticipation, can be seen to increase in the number of injuries. Furthermore, “Succesful navigation of uneven terrain requires a variety of adaptations to the basic stepping pattern.” (National Library of Medicine, 2018). To give an instance, we adapt to certain movements as we walk. As a result, walking on uneven terrain leads to new adaptations to simply walking. This is imperative because “variety of adaptations” means many acts or processes of change needed to better suit a situation. Since it is needed to “adapt” to uneven pavement, there will be many falls before getting used to it. Uneven pavements are only increasing the amount of overthinking which causes an increase in falls and injuries.

We request a fraction of the funds to be set for uneven pavements be set in New York City's budget to provide New Yorkers a safer platform to walk on. Currently, there is $759,096 allocated to the department of transportation in NYC. Unfortunately, uneven pavements, in Corona, aren’t paid attention to causing greater worry for us citizens. According to NYC DOT, “NYC relies on property owners to maintain the sidewalk adjacent to their property, including repairs and removal of snow, ice, or debris. (2018). Likewise, NYC holds property owners responsible for uneven pavements and keeping them maintained. If they break regulations, they may be fined. This is consequential because “relies on property owners” means NYC depends on property owners to take care of uneven sidewalks for many who cannot afford to fix what is right for their community. In this case, lending funds to pavements that cannot be fixed in neighborhoods that are low in income can be beneficial. Along with this, “NYC DOt offers the Expedited Sidewalk Repair program where the city will fix the defective sidewalk and bill the property owner for the work. Under this program, property owners will be responsible for all repairs, (including tree-related defects) and will be billed at a premium rate, (NYC DOT, n.d). In other words, NYC DOT offers the Expedited Sidewalk Repair program where they would fix uneven pavements and bull those whose property is responsible for the sidewalk. This is important because the sentence “...property owners will responsible for all repairs, (including tree-related defects) and will be billed at a premium rate,” means that even due to tree-related defects, owners must still pay for the sidewalk so they can provide us with a safe pavement to walk on; even if it is expensive. Although NYC’s funds for transportation are under one million dollars, we can still be able to use a fraction of the funds to help protect and give New Yorkers safe platforms to walk on.

To reiterate, sidewalks are at different levels fearing many in our community to walk around without falling. We can help Corona, Queens, by installing signs to warn others about the pavement ahead and fix our sidewalks as best as we can. The main priority in our community is to keep each other safe no matter what. Being able to fix our pavements will help provide a safer platform for our community. Our community is our home. We must keep our environment and those in it safe. I know without a doubt, that with your support, we can help make the community safe.