Thanks for your continued concrete vigilance, Swamplot pedestrians. The mysterious unpavednesses documented in this catalog of sidewalk lunch breaks in Hyde Park and North Montrose appear to have raised a couple of (tiny) red flags. On Welch St., at least. In case you’re updating your own dogwalking map, you’ll find these walkway gaps on (clockwise, from top left): Van Buren between Peden and Bomar; Welch between Waugh and Van Buren; West Pierce between Eberhard and Marconi; and Peden between Montrose and Van Buren.
- Previously on Swamplot: Where the Sidewalk Takes a Little Break
Photos: Hal Werner
This is not just a Houston phenomenon. You see this all over Galveston and even in New Orleans.
Sometimes an existing sidewalk is destroyed and just never replaced.
Here’s a spot on O1/2 St in Galveston between 29th and 30th street (a friend has a house on this block).
http://g.co/maps/9hxwt
Pan left and right in streetview to see broken sidewalks on both side of the street.
Honestly, I would rather have no sidewalk than what we have in Audobon. If you don’t have your hiking boots on and are not paying 100% attention, you’ll end up flat on your face. The sidewalks are so broken up and buckled from trees and their roots, it would be safer just to pull them all up.
Not sure I understand why missing sections of sidewalks is so mysterious and fascinating. My neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks at all, would you consider that a huge gap and just freak out if you suddenly wandered into it?
It’s the same throughout Eastwood, Broadmoor and similar older, inner loop neighborhoods. The sidewalks that still exist are in such bad shape that everyone is forced to walk in the streets — and the streets have cars parked along the curb. COH bigwigs know all about the problem but are unwilling to divert funds to solve it.
On the 1200 block of Drew (Hyde Park), they recently ripped up the street and sidewalk and then came a replaced a section of sidewalk nexy to the Rudyard’s parking lot, but not the section they ripped up in fron t of my neighbor’s house. I’m sure he’ll be without sidewalk for the 7 years the city has quoted to fix (or finish what they started and stopped 2 years ago) the drainage/streets in Hyde Park.
Where were the busy-body CoH inspectors with their orange stickers?
Walking? What’s that? Just roll up to your local McD’s in your SUV, grab some dinner, roll back home, and watch TV.
I like how markd thinks there are busy body CoH inspectors. A couple of guys who get laughed at because they drive Prius’s to a construction site I would hardly consider an inspection team.
artfox and NateF, here in the city of Houston, sidewalk repairs are actually the responsibility of the homeowner. Some streets in my neighborhood are having sidewalk work done this summer, but it is not with city funds, rather federal.
The broken and missing sidewalks are near the top of my hates about living here. We’re such a great city for…. we’re a world class city…. BS. We’re a city with the worst sidewalks I’ve ever seen. Never mind the ramps at intersections, untility poles in the the middle of your path, and a host of other random obstructions. You really must see to believe. And to think there is such a thing as the Americans with Disabilities Act. You’d never know it trying to get around on a sidewalk.
We had a dangerous rise in our sidewalk as a tree was planted too close to our sidewalk, water line and meter; we fixed the line several times but the tree obviously preferred the leaking water line. Eventually (7 years) our HOA agreed to let us cut down the tree and replace the sidewalk as the waterlines could not be moved.
From kjb434: “I like how markd thinks there are busy body CoH inspectors…”
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Actually he’s right on. I get red tags all the time because inspectors will come to my buildings, go into my gated complex, and look for the smallest things. I had a crack in a window. Red tag. One of the window AC units in the back of the building had wood trim around it that was bad. Red tag. “You really outta get that fixed”. Yeah, no shit. I knew that.
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Now, with the red tag, in order to fix I gotta go and wait at the permit office for a structural permit (which is time and $) and then call for a re-inspection. It’s not their damn business but they could have come by and said “You need to get this fixed, we’ll be back next week. If it’s not done, red tag”. If the “goal” was to get stuff done, it would have accomplished the goal. But the goal is to charge permit fees.
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(though my favorite is when I got red tagged on my water heaters on a building I bought. I guess the exhaust wasn’t far enough from the roof. So I had to replace three working water heaters. Did I mention that the heaters were in a locked storage room behind a locked gate? Still wonder how they got in there. I was out of town so the tenant told me “The city said the heaters are unsafe” so I had my guys replace them with the type that was ‘up to code’ for that type of room. When I came back, I found a $4,000 (no kidding) fine because I had them changed out w/o getting a permit. I had no idea. I was just told I had to replace them with a different type, so I did.)
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Meanwhile I can walk around by dozens of buildings near mine that are falling down and yet, not a red tag to be found (I’m sure my swamplot comments don’t help). Oh, and on the way of that walk, good luck if you don’t fall into a street sink hole or missing sidewalk. The city should red tag itself before coming after others.
Cody, is it because yours are rental properties that you get tagged for broken windows and water heaters?
I mean, does the average joe homeowner DIY’r need a permit?
Cody,
If you are getting that many red tags, then someone is calling and complaining about the violations.
Cody: I hear ya. The COH is only generating FEES with all of the red tagging they do. Thank Annise Parker administration.
typo: Thank You Annise Parker administration…
Kjb: for sure. The prius patrol seems strongest right after we file our evictions :)
Pye: from my understanding, average homeowner needs the same permits to do the same type of works as a multfamily owner.
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The difference in multi family comes into play with regards to Habitability Registration, inspections, and certification of occupancy. there are a lot of permitting and inspections and fees (heavily targeted towards inner loop properties…) that go along with those property types. As small as a little triplex.
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Quick example: Just for the certification of occupancy inspection, just the inspection, it was over $400. Then of course any work that needs to be done outside of the basic structural, you can’t even get the permit. You have to hire a licensed electrician or plumber to do it. No matter how small. It could be changing an outlet; prepare to pay out the nose for a licensed electrician and all the permits to go along with it.
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On a building that we bought that *already had* the certification of occupancy, I got a ticket because it wasn’t “on display”. I went down to the city to have one printed (so i could display it and avoid further fines) and it was $100. Yeah $100 to have it reprinted! The person that gave me the ticket for not having it on display could see in his computer that the building actually had the certificate too.
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Disgusting…
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I can’t cry about it too much. It’s still a fun and exciting business to be in, especially when you’re buying properties near your own home (where improving them has an extra benifit). Plus at the end of the day the tenant end up paying it. I just try to stress to my tenants that “A fee on me is a fee on you”