Scarborough residents say sidewalk replacement has left neighbourhood in disarray

Sidewalk left in disarray after construction Residents of a Scarborough neighbourhood are not happy with the way their street has been repaired following underground wiring work.

A Scarborough resident says that the street she’s lived on for 29 years has been left in disarray after underground wiring work was conducted on behalf of Toronto Hydro.

Beverly Szabo said that the sidewalks along Birdsilver Gardens, near Rouge Hills Drive and Lawrence Avenue, were replaced and the construction has left the area in poor shape.

“As a homeowner and a taxpayer I don’t think this work is being done very well,” she told CTV News Toronto. "We've put all our time and effort and money into making a beautiful home on a beautiful street. I don’t think that they should just do things uncaringly as they have."

Photographs of the area show exposed wires lining the sidewalk and missing bricks from at least one of the driveways. Landscaping materials are seen strewn across lawns.

"I don’t feel great about it because I personally have put up my own funds to fix things on my own,” said area resident Niroshan Subramaniam.

“It’s not really safe for the kids to walk around. The wires are exposed,” another area resident said.

City councillor Jennifer McKelvie said the work was conducted by contractor Powerline Plus, who is doing the construction on behalf of Toronto Hydro. The work is still being completed on the northern part of the street.

"This construction upgrade is important because this area is one of the last to regain power after outages, such as the ice storm,” McKelvie said by phone. “It is also important that the contractor is maintaining a good clean stage on the streets and we’ve been following up after every complaint that we’ve received."

The councillor also told CTV News Toronto that her office is pushing hard for a better cleanup.

Szabo said that as a retiree, she can’t afford to do many repairs on her home.

"I would be happy if they came back and put things as it should be and made our street nice again as it was before all this started."

A spokesperson with Toronto Hydro has said that they are working with the contractors “to ensure that the residents’ property is restored to original condition, as per our high standards and the municipal standards that we follow.”

With files from CTV News Toronto's Janice Golding