Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Diana Nelson looked into this issue back in 2013, and conveyed some alternative ideas for funding sidewalk reconstruction:
Throughout the country, sidewalks are commonly the adjacent property owner’s responsibility, but there are creative ways to deal with the realities of citation after citation without response, lien after lien that just adds to someone’s eventual burden — maybe even the city’s.
Source: Walkabout: No reason we should keep tripping over rough sidewalk issue | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette