PILSEN — For years, longtime Pilsen neighbor Raul Hernandez, co-founder of nonprofit The Resurrection Project, rallied and organized neighbors to “make the community better” and help people in need.
Hernandez, 77, is now one of those in need. He started using a wheelchair about three years ago due to a muscular dystrophy condition affecting his legs, but he cannot safely ride over the cracks on the sidewalk outside his home on the 1800 block of West 17th Street.
“It’s impossible for me to go anywhere if my wife is not around because I cannot go that way in a wheelchair,” he said, pointing west.
On the block’s west side, the sidewalk is slightly sunken and broken. On the east side, there is a steep crack and the sidewalk has also slightly sunk, creating a short bump — a tripping hazard for a wheelchair. There is also a small hole, a sign that the sidewalk is “caving in,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said he and his family have reported the sidewalk’s condition to Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez’s (25th) office several times and made city requests over the past year — requests that remained open until Block Club brought the issue to the city’s attention last week.