SCRANTON -- A disagreement between Scranton's Department of Public Works and a homeowner now has neighbors in south Scranton worried about their safety.
It all has to do with a crumbling retaining wall that is taking a city road with it.
While Scranton's DPW and a homeowner on Cedar Avenue are pointing fingers at each other, neighbors are pointing down at the surface of Rosen Court that runs behind Cedar Avenue.
"It's dangerous just to walk in the alley, one of these days someone's going to have a bad fall there and really get injured bad," said neighbor Michael Donnegan.
It's like a pothole of epic proportions that Scranton's city engineer said was caused by this retaining wall on the adjacent property falling in.
Neighbors said the road started washing away this winter and has grown steadily since. It makes them especially nervous once a week on garbage day.
"That's what's going to make it fall down through, the garbage trucks going through. It's going to push all that dirt down. You can see how big it's getting," another Neighbor added.
It's about seven feet long, two feet wide, and continually getting deeper. Scranton's DPW director said it is up to the homeowner to fix the problem.
The homeowner thinks since it's a city street, the city should fix it.
Neighbors just want it fixed and think the city should step up before something bad happens.
"I think the city should fix it, at least help the guy out or something. The guy has no money or anything how is he going to fix it?" a neighbor said.
The homeowner whose retaining wall is falling contacted Newswatch 16 about this story last week, we contacted him Thursday for comment but never heard back.
Scranton's DPW Director Dennis Gallagher said if safety becomes a concern his crews can put a metal plate over the hole. But, they wont fix it.
If it's not fixed, Gallagher said they may take legal action against the homeowner.
