City Ripping Up South Portland Bluestone
This photo was sent in earlier this morning by a resident of South Portland Avenue alarmed by the sight she woke up to this morning: A crew from the city’s Department of Design and Construction tearing up of the landmarked bluestone sidewalk at the corner of Dekalb Avenue as part of the citywide effort to…
This photo was sent in earlier this morning by a resident of South Portland Avenue alarmed by the sight she woke up to this morning: A crew from the city’s Department of Design and Construction tearing up of the landmarked bluestone sidewalk at the corner of Dekalb Avenue as part of the citywide effort to build out the traffic bumps on many corners. From her email:
Officially the city agency in charge of doing this work isn’t allowed to destroy what is considered landmarked material (bluestone), and I’ve confirmed with LPC that the city has an LPC-approved permit requiring them to pour a dark (slate colored) concrete where they are creating the new bump out. What I was NOT expecting was what I saw this morning: the cherished bluestone slabs broken and destroyed, in the ACTUAL sidewalk, as they dig up the sidewalk to match the new higher height of the bump out curb. If I’m not mistaken, they have to put back whatever bluestone slabs they are forced to remove. (Still waiting from confirmation of this from LPC). I can only imagine that carefully removing and resetting old stone slabs is a very expensive and time consuming process, so I supposed “accidentally” forcing them to be chopped up and trashed is an easier solution. Man this makes me mad.
The on-site supervisor she spoke to told her DDC would reset whatever pieces of bluestone were still intact when all was said and done. From the looks of this photo, that’s not a very encouraging prospect. What a botch! UPDATE: We’ve received word now that the FDNY is on the scene because of a gas leak relating to the removal of a lamp post on the corner yesterday. Developing…
The city did the same thing at the corner of Henry Street and Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights. This after the city fought the owners of the previous restaurant on the site, which wanted to install a concrete sidewalk. No, LPC said, you have to keep the bluestone. Now along comes crappy sidewalk bulge-outs and, guess what, they installed concrete at the corner.
OK, I’m coming to this too late I know, but neighbors should be calling LPC and the Fort Greene Association to get DDC reined in. Whining on this board ain’t worth bupkis. And yes, bluestone can be lifted without breakage — although accidents do happen. Homeowners (including myself) have been having their sidewalks relaid and repaired forever.
you wet blanket, dibs 🙂
Forget the history debate. Bluestones just look better than cement. Cracked and crumbling with cement patches, not so much.
They may not be “history” but they are “historical.” There is a difference.
Sorry- I meant to add that great ideas and important events get lost by the wayside if we can’t relate them to our everyday experience.
I agree that is cause for concern. But history isn’t just the seminal events- it’s also the day to day- those bluestones don’t just represent a preservationist’s navel-gazing. They represent how this country worked, the crafts and skills we had, the economy of the times, the way this nation moved supplies and goods, the technology of quarrying bluestone and the development of city streets. And the success of all those day to day operations came out of the winning of the Revolution, and the freedoms given in the Constitution. They are all interrelated.
Bxgrl;
I don’t think it is a “conservative” or “liberal” issue to recognize that history should teach the important events of our nation: the Revolutionary War, the framing of the Constitution, etc.
A large part of our population is totally ignorant of this history. That is a true cause for concern, not Mr. Walsh’s overwrought navel-gazing decrying that technology has moved beyond bluestone.
What worries me is who gets to decide what the most improtant parts of our civilization’s history are? The religious fundamentalists? The right wing conservatives? The left?
One more thing, similiar to a point I recently made on another thread.
The abuse of the word “history” on this site and FNY is unbelievable. To associate history with the choice of a material used for sidewalks in the 19th century is an abuse of the word. We can’t seem to educate our children on the most important parts of our civilization’s history these days. THAT worries me, not the loss of some old (and obsolete) construction material.