City Cracking Down on Historic Sidewalks

Here’s some news sure to be divisive. According to a Brooklyn Paper article, 27 homeowners on one stretch of Fifth Street in Park Slope are being forced by the city to pony up $2,000 apiece to finance the restoration of the sidewalk. The block was initially flagged because of a potential trip hazard, and that spread to a block-long mandated clean-up. Because of the historic nature of the block, the city is requiring the use of historic bluestone or tinted concrete, depending on what was originally there. Predictably, some owners are grousing but we’re all for it. If you’re going to designate certain areas as historically significant and tightly control what the exterior of houses can look like, it’s kind of ridiculous to have ugly new sidewalks running in front of them. That’s why we just completed restoring the sidewalk in front of our brownstone—voluntarily—with bluestone following some underground plumbing work. (We also expanded the tree bed a bit as well.) You can see the before and after photos above. Price tag: $2,000, or about what the city’s contractors are going to end up charging one of the most vocally opposed homeowners on Fifth Street. Incidentally, we’d argue that the value of the house went up by at least $2,000 with the job. We’d also argue that neighbors who put in ugly sidewalks don’t only drag down the value of their own homes but that of their neighbors, another reason why it’s reasonable to extend Landmarks’ purview to the sidewalk. (By the way, we ended up using a mason named Lascelle Edwards, who did a great job and can be reached at 917-640-0928. We’d also like to thank the handful of readers who donated their spare bluestone to the project!)