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December 29, 2006
Unhappy Ending for Sidewalk
It looks like the sidewalk on Washington Avenue was, unfortunately, not repaired with bluestone. We're kinda curious whether this was a financial decision or whether the mere size of the roots made it impossible to lay newly cut slabs down. Certainly ain't much to look at, is it? Anyone know?
Beware the Wrath of the Tree Roots [Brownstoner]
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Comments
at some point mr. b we need to worry about things other than what our replacement sidewalks are made of...give some of these homeowners a break.
Posted by: anon at December 29, 2006 10:08 AM
I thought that if it is a landmarked block, you have to dye the concrete a color similar to the existing bluestone. It doesn't cost anymore to do (or some extremely nominal amount) - they just add a colored powder to concrete mix.
Posted by: lp at December 29, 2006 10:25 AM
Rarely are sidewalks replaced with bluestone.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 10:25 AM
I'm not on landmark block (nor one that should be) and had a few small pieces of bluestone and some concrete.
Finally replaced all (received letter from city threatening to do themselves and bill me if didn't do it myself).
Had them darken new concrete to bluestone color and looks great even after 4 years.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 10:31 AM
Someone put some blue-colored concrete on my bluestone block of Carlton Ave. recently. It looks good and I imagine it won't get heaved about as much by the tree roots as bluestone does (or if it does it could be replaced more easily and cheaply).
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 10:38 AM
Seriously, after criticizing building, you are now moving onto sidewalks? Whats next, the cars parked in front of the property?
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 11:36 AM
It's part of the whole aesthetic of a 19th century streetscape. Not an odd thing to post about imo. People actually do enjoy it when they still have the old bluestone sidewalks, and it can be prohibitive to replace or repair (when compared to cheap concrete).
Heck, the city doesn't care. They break your bluestone to fix a pipe (when they could easily just lift the slab without breaking it) and fill the hole with tarred gravel. I think landmarks does care.
Posted by: lp at December 29, 2006 12:27 PM
Bluestone is only prohibitively expensive in the short-term thinking way of modern economic theory. Bluestone, like high quality housing, trains, etc, requires a significant up front investment but that investment lasts for well over a century.
Conrete sidewalks are cheap to put in, but have to be replaced constantly.
Posted by: Eryximachus at December 29, 2006 12:38 PM
When you take into account the expenses 'Present value' even over the long-term it is still much more cost effective to replace Bluestone with concrete.
Posted by: David at December 29, 2006 1:37 PM
there is only so much time and energy people have to worry about stuff like this. and this is coming from someone who checked a site like this regularly. think about how little the rest of the population cares.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 2:09 PM
Anon 10:08, 11:36, and 2:09 (who may all be the same person) obviously you either don't understand or care about preserving the city's fragile historic buildings and streetscapes. Fortunately, a few people do, and are willing to work their asses off (and spend a ton of their own money) trying to do it. Since you think these issues are so trivial, perhaps you'd be happier in some Applebees town like Scottsdale? Go for it.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 7:49 PM
Of course three separate posters who disagree with the politically correct position are the same poster. No disagreement allowed here.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 30, 2006 12:25 PM
Uh, Brooklyn IS an Applebees town.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 30, 2006 4:51 PM
I live on Washington Avenue and am glad that Brownstoner posts stuff like this. I was curious. Frankly, in the atomized, alienated way in which our physical relation to neighborhood and our neighbors has evolved since the middle ages, it's placeless media such as a website -- such as THIS website -- that allows individuals to have time-shifted, place-shifted conversations that used to take place F2F, IRL, over a campfire, etc.
No need for peeps to splay their haterade all over this website, IMHO.
Thanks for posting, Brownstoner.
Posted by: ANP at December 31, 2006 2:00 PM
Huh? Please speak English.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 31, 2006 2:26 PM
Please keep your sociopsychobabble to yourself, when you buy a brownstone and have to cough up the dough to replace the sidewalk then your opinion counts, but as an armchair PC renter who cares what you think
Posted by: Anonymous at December 31, 2006 2:31 PM
about 15-20 yrs ago the city torn up all of the pavement on greene av. from fulton (in fg) to bedford av. in fg and clinton hill people were encouraged to buy bluestone, past grand av. the city put down regular concrete. someone sued and iin the end thr fg and ch folks on greene were reimbursed for the bluestone (it was free) and those from grand to bedford received reg. concrete.
Posted by: kay at January 1, 2007 5:32 PM
We had *serious* tree root upheaval. The Parks Dept looked at the site and wanted to greatly enlarge the tree pit. The city was then going to replace the bluestone with concrete.
We paid Buscarello $3000 to remove the bluestone, wait till Parks had done their thing, and replace it, level. Took all kinds of coordination, and cost us money we really didn't have at the time. It was that, or let the city put down concrete, and I couldn't let that happen. Some neighbors were appreciative, others were angry because "we" "decided" to enlarge the tree pit, thus narrowing the sidewalk (it was entirely Parks Dept's decision).
In other news, who thought sycamores/London plane trees would be a good choice for city streets? They're a freakin' nightmare. They shed leaves all year long, too. It looks like fall by May.
Posted by: BrooklynBotanic at January 1, 2007 6:27 PM
Nice opinions people! Maybe this should be called Snobstoner!!
Posted by: Anonymous at January 1, 2007 10:34 PM
"Fortunately, a few people do, and are willing to work their asses off (and spend a ton of their own money) trying to do it. Since you think these issues are so trivial, perhaps you'd be happier in some Applebees town like Scottsdale? Go for it."
ok...so everyone who doesn't have a "ton of money" to spend on something like this should move to Scottsdale? you must be a delight to hang out with.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 11:03 AM
Someday I will understand how paying my own money, out of my not-vast salary, to repair and restore historic bluestone that belongs to the city (not to me) is supposed to be "snobbish." (I also paid to have my neighbor's bluestone done, as they are on a fixed income). Am I not being a good little Marxist because I fixed something myself (with the government's permission) instead of waiting for the government to do it? Or are you all just so consumed with freelance class envy and hate that you assume that anyone with initiative is some sort of "go-getter," and is thus highly suspect?
Please, I must know. Have I done wrong? Should I go out, sledgehammer in hand, breaking sidewalks all over Park Slope to atone for my haughty repairs?
Posted by: Brooklyn Botanic at January 2, 2007 12:34 PM
to repair and restore historic bluestone that belongs to the city (not to me) is supposed to be "snobbish."
not snobbish - foolish.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 1:29 PM
Foolish? Not really, not for me. In the 7 years since I had the work done, I've enjoyed it several times a day, each and every day. I get much more satisfaction from beautifying and restoring my immediate neighborhood (tree pits too) than I would have from a vacation that would probably have cost the same as the sidewalk repairs. Plus, I've gotten to know all the neighbors, and even spurred some of them to spruce up too. And, hey, when you walk down my block, even you get to enjoy my work and investments too (if you don't consider enjoying antique sidewalks and planted tree pits to be beneath you, so to speak).
I figure rather than around whining about everything going to hell, I can try to preserve and improve a minuscule sliver of the Brooklyn I love.
Posted by: Brooklyn Botanic at January 2, 2007 3:35 PM
You are wrong. This is Greenwich, CT.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 3, 2007 6:01 AM
Our homeowner's insurance company forced us to remove the bluestone around our tree pit, which was always coming up due to roots about which the city would do nothing (but tell us that we couldn't address the problem ourselves). Once the city shifted liability to the homeowners for incidents that happened on city sidewalks they doomed a lot of the remaining bluestone sidewalks. Our homeowner's insurance immediately threatened to cancel unless we "fixed" the problem sidewalks. That house now has nice level concrete sidewalks around an enlarged (at the city's insitence) tree pit. A nice aesthetic piece of Brooklyn history is gone, but the government and isurance gods are assuaged.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 3, 2007 3:27 PM
My sidewalk in Bed Stuy still has a combination of blue stone and concrete patches. Does anyone know the price range to replace the existing concrete with blue stone? How much does it cost to instaall new blue stone Thanks
Posted by: Anonymous at July 8, 2007 6:42 AM
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