In the six months since the city of Vancouver hired its new sidewalk inspector, reports of needed maintenance have more than doubled. “We haven’t really been formally broadcasting this sidewalk program,” said Ryan Miles, Vancouver’s operations program manager. “The word has been getting out there.” Miles and Ryan Lopossa, the city’s streets and transportation manager, gave an overview to the city council Monday evening now that sidewalk maintenance programming is underway. New streets funding was approved in 2015, which means the street maintenance department can now begin working preventively rather than on a purely complaint-driven basis. The sidewalk program has $250,000 in dedicated annual funding.