I don't know about how you feel about the sidewalks on Walker and Cheney Avenues, but almost everyday that I push Harper down the street in his stroller for a daily walk around the block, I curse them. The situation has been slowly getting worse, kind of like the proverbial loose thread in a sweater - once it starts to unravel it is really hard to stop.
It won't be long in my mind before some trips and falls and really hurts themselves. I can't imagine all the kids on the block learning to ride their bikes on these sidewalks, not to mention them running wildly down the street without paying attention...
Suffice it to say that the problem is not just a nuisance, but a growing safety hazard. The problem is caused by a number of different factors, one being tree growth. As a tree's root system expands it often has no where to go but sideways underneath the sidewalk, and thus, the pavement buckles. But another major cause of sidewalk and curb degradation are cars parking on them. Sidewalks were simply not build to withstand a two thousand plus car sitting and driving on top of them.
This morning on my way to work, I took a slew of pictures documenting just how bad the problem is. Walker Avenue's problems exist primarily in two places - one is in front of the City Parking Lot on Walker Avenue where the sidewalks have largely been damaged by tree roots. The second is in front of the notorious Cheney House whose curbs were actually destroyed by the contractors who built the condominiums acorss the street.
The sidewalk situation on Cheney, however, is unavoidable. Almost the entire sidewalk on side of the street is cracked, destroyed or impassable.
I have created a photo gallery documenting the problem and will be sharing it with the City soon. Stay tuned for further updates.
My view is that this is a policy problem as well as a maintenance problem. While the sidewalks do need some TLC, what is ALSO needed is a policy that any construction should leave the neighborhood in an equal or better condition than it was when the construction started.
For example, some of the sidewalk problems are caused by the heavy weight of cement trucks that parked on the street during the construction of the condos. There is simply no reason that the rest of the community should sustain collateral damage so that another part of the neighborhood can be improved. This is an issue for the City Council as well as for neighborhood advocacy.
I'm suggesting two proposals:
1.) any construction over a certain dollar limit should contribute a sum into a fund to repair collateral damage.
2.) a permit should be issued by the City for use of heavy equipment that has the potential for damaging city / public / communtity property. This permit should not have an onerous cost, but it is a way to track who was responsible and where the damage occurred. It would also pay for the City Inspector to photograph an area to determine the "before" condition to which damage can be compared.
3.) Neighbors should be notified of large scale consturction that may affect their community. They should also be encouraged to take photographs to document damage. This should be easy in an era of digital cameras in cellphones. This damage would then be fixed by the perpetrators.
OK.. my $0.02... all comments welcome.
Posted by: Ravi | December 06, 2006 at 03:02 PM