Monday, November 10, 2025
A couple of years ago, the City of Lacey began two programs to improve sidewalks.
The first was grinding uneven panels to eliminate tripping hazards. The second was to get a machine, the “sidewalk super sucker” to lift entire panels of concrete, cut out the roots that were pushing the panels up, leveling out the base, and setting the panels down again.
They have fixed hundreds of tripping hazards with these two programs. Obviously, the tree shown below should not have been planted so close to the sidewalk.
Next year, Lacey is taking another step, with a big contract to a company that will do much more. The project involves replacing approximately 45,000 square feet of sidewalk and driveway panels that have lifted due to tree root growth, resulting in uneven surfaces and potential safety hazards.
This will involve removing street trees that are incompatible with sidewalks, installing root barrier, and putting in new street trees that will provide shade and improve the feel of the streets without damaging the sidewalks. That’s the right attitude. Git ‘er done.
Meanwhile, the City of Olympia continues to move very slowly on sidewalk repair. Two years ago, the city imposed a new sales tax, generating about $3 million per year, and dedicated that money to sidewalk repair and other nonmotorized transportation improvements.
But Olympia has done very little actual work with the money. They did contract for a consultant to assess the state of the sidewalks: more than 27,000 separate problems, including 1,453 “severe” problems like the one pictured below.
Olympia has agreed to “hire a crew” to work full time on sidewalk repair. That’s good, but not good enough. With $3 million per year, the city should have one crew grinding uneven sidewalk panels, like the one below, and at least one separate crew doing full panel replacements like the Lacey program. This would provide work for our construction trades during the current building slump due to higher interest rates that make new homes less affordable.
A grinding crew could do 20 or more locations per day, 100 per week and 5,000 per year. They could quickly get around to the uneven panels that cause tripping hazards, providing benefit in every part of the city in just a few weeks.
It is time for Olympia to take a hint from it’s larger neighbor, Lacey, and start spending the $3 million per year the city has been collecting for two years.
Jim Lazar is a resident of Olympia.
The opinions expressed above are those of the writers and not necessarily those of The JOLT's staff or board of directors. Got something to say about a topic of interest to Thurston County residents? Send it to us and we’ll most likely publish it. Click here to email to us.
10 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
The_Armed_Gardener
You must be on drugs to think Olympia will fix anything. Even if they started next year, it would take decades. All the years of neglect have diminished tax growth to the point of zero chance of recovery in our lifetime.
Wednesday, October 29 Report this
JHermes
I do not appreciate Lacey choosing to decapitate multiple trees along major thoroughfares during the height of fall foliage.
It looks awful.
Wednesday, October 29 Report this
Larry Dzieza
Couldn't agree more. Git it done should be the mantra for the City. Speed is the path to restoring confidence and trust in government.
We are paying our taxes to repair the sidewalks that have been neglected and underinvested for so many years. Seriously, a couple of years ago the maintenance budget for sidewalks was $11,000 a year. Neighborhoods have been pushing harder for doing something about a problem that is causing injuries and city insurance claims.
Wednesday, October 29 Report this
BobJacobs
I've been following the street trees and sidewalks issue for decades. I'm skeptical about these "root barriers" that are supposed to prevent damage to sidewalks. I look forward to some good research on this topic.
Bob Jacobs
Wednesday, October 29 Report this
Fraudguy
Here's a thought, don't plant trees in the "parking strip" and you'll rarely ever have to repair sidewalks.
Thursday, October 30 Report this
johngreen
Sidewalk repairs can be accomplished without removing street trees, in fact it is cheaper NOT to remove the trees. The city has planted street trees improperly for years as attested by city arborist's reports which I have a copy of for our community. Lacey has been budgeting very little money for sidewalk repair to the tune of less than half million dollars whereas street repair budgeted $9 million. The present sidewalk policy of sidewalk repair is contrary to the city's comprehensive plan which calls for reducing our carbon footprint. Removing mature trees does not reduce carbon footprint in fact just the opposite. The city council must step in and stop this policy and increase the budget for sidewalk repair. If we can build new parks for millions of dollars, money can be found for sidewalk repair without tree removal. Isn't Lacey a Tree City USA?
Thursday, October 30 Report this
Mcb147
Part of the city's sidewalk repair program includes removing trees that should not have been planted and replacing them with trees that will not impact sidewalks in the future. Good job Lacey for identifying the problem and being strategic about the solution. Thank you
Thursday, October 30 Report this
johnmoe
Nice! Same problem, different town and state. Until planning commissions eliminate mandatory tree plantings in the mow strip between the sidewalk and the street or adjacent to the sidewalk this will continue to happen. As a previous resident of a small community in Oregon I received a letter in the mail indicating the city would come by and replace two heaved sidewalk panels in front of my house and it would only cost me $3,000 per panel. After researching and becoming a citizen advisor on the planning commission, I set out to stifle this. To no avail.
Oh well, watch your step, people who fall can sue, and you will get a bill in the mail for any repairs. Now that is sustainable...
Thursday, October 30 Report this
FrostedFlake
I object to these a holes who think trees are weeds and that publicly owned trees "gotta go, to clean up the place". If you drive around the Fred Meyer on Sleater-Kinney and count the stumps, you will see a quarter of those trees are already gone.
I really don't like stumps. I don't like stumps being there so long that they rot. I don't like publically owned stumps. And I don't like publically owned stumps that are SPROUTING. Why are all those stumps there, on Sleater-Kinney? It's because someone, I don't know, maybe JIM LAZAR, hired a logger and put him in charge of Laceys' landscape maintenence team. I want That Man reassigned to the police department, where his talents might do someone some good. I want him out BEFORE he takes down one of the big trees. And I want the new man to put those trees back up.
Those trees ain't growing back on their own. Those who don't like trees can move to Texas, there there are no trees, rather than change Washington into Montana so they can be comfortable. I assure you trees are feature, not a bug, and a city without them is both ugly, and hotter and colder than it would be. The trees are why I bought my house in Lacey. And taking down the trees would cut real estate value by half.
Stop listening to loggers, telling you what loggers know, about what to do about the city landscape, and just maintain the sidewalk. The sidewalk, ...has trees. In case you don't know.
Thanks very much.
(signed)
A Homeowner
Thursday, October 30 Report this
Lacey1
I’m assuming simply cutting out the roots from underneath is performed after having consulted with an arborist. If not, how would construction crews or an engineer know if a tree will decay and die after that? That would be an oversight.
Grinding panels is commonplace among municipalities, and I’m surprised it’s only been 2 years since the city has considered this temporary means of fixing sidewalk. And speaking of grinding sidewalks, the one pictured with the person with the white shoes standing next to it would not suffice with a simple grind. You’d need to take that whole sidewalk out to make it ADA-compliant. The cross slope looks way too steep to just grind out the edge.
And for construction slumps, while there may be more demand for workers, the skillset with workers that build houses differs from ones that pour sidewalk, and contractors would end up using their existingn crews, while workers with companies who can’t find work would likely file for unemployment.
If this information in this piece is true, and Olympia has started collecting tax revenue for sidewalk repair, then 2 years does seem very slow. I’m also disappointed that work went out to a consultant for field observations and data collecting. Simple work like this could have possibly been more cost effective with an in-house engineer and intern. Also, city staff would benefit from getting out in the field and observing for themselves, rather than stay in the comfor of their offices (or homes), while a consultant is getting that experience.
Wednesday, November 5 Report this