Your sidewalk needs to be fixed. That's just crazy. It's also crazy to assume that everyone drives their children. I spent my childhood walking to school, in canada, we even got to walk home for lunch. I was more than a few blocks from my school (in high school, I must have been 2 miles). I never got attacked, kidnapped, etc etc that everyone seems to think will happen nowadays. But that is a whole seperate rant.
Hope you get your sidewalk fixed. Have you talked to anyone else about it (I assume a city person?)