Sure, send us anything: “I think I read in your blog recently that you wanted people to send you photos of blocked or unpassable sidewalks in Houston,” writes the reader who sent in these images. They show a tiny community garden — which appears to support its own utility pole — implanted in the sidewalk area on Ferndale St. just south of Westheimer, across the street from the River Oaks Plastic Surgery Center. The sidewalk break fits between 2712 Ferndale St. and its big brother next door, The Belle Meade at River Oaks condo building, at 2929 Westheimer.
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Photos: David Kozowski
There’s no street even vaguely like those two blocks of Ferndale in Houston.
Go look.
I was going to take a pic of the missing gutter cover in the middle of the bicycle lane on Cullen Boulevard southbound just south of U of H, but I was so traumatized by my near death experience (I seriously think I would have died if I had hit it), that I couldn’t hold the camera steady.
That’s one helluva privacy fence.
We have sidewalkus interruptus on both sides of San Felipe between Willowick and the RR tracks. When it ends, you’re forced to walk a very narrow strip just inches away from traffic. Yikes! Of course, most of San Felipe is without sidewalks because of its former life as an alley.
err… yes there is. Google Street view shows it exactly like the picture above.
2707-2713 Ferndale St Houston, TX 77098
Strange that the developer put a sidewalk on one side of the townhouse, but not the other.
I don’t think people are are sure what sidewalks are, at least to judge by the number of people walking around in traffic in the Heights.
I want to know about the fenced off sidewalk outside of the Holocaust Museum. Does anyone know how they got away with doing that??
Hey, I walk my dog there. There’s a small trodden path through that green bush. Stil trying to figure out that dog park’s gate code…
John, you can’t possibly be from the heights if you are complaining about people walking in the street. While not true for the whole of the Heights, the bumpy muss of a sidewalk on my street drops off into a weeded empty field and then picks back up about 50 feet away. Then the next patch of concrete is buckled from tree growth. I could go on. Anyway, I think people are so accustomed to the horrible sidewalks and otherwise walkable sidewalks blocked by inconsiderate parkers or overtaken by large shrubs or tree branches, that they’ve taken to walking in the streets out of habit.
I walk around in Rice Military and between the old homes, new townhouses, ditches, curbs, overgrown lots, old pea-gravel concrete, newer brick-u-luxe pavers, electrical and cable boxes, new mailbox clusters, construction vehicles, and general chaos, there is hardly any contiguous sidewalk in any block in any direction.
I wonder how long the (temporary) electric meter pole that the townhome builders electrical contractor installed prior to construction will remain in the sidewalk easement area. The temporary electric meter pole should have been removed shortly after powering up the townhome which should have been several weeks prior to the completion and closing. Also the city building inspector doing the final occupancy inspection should have failed the inspection due to this being a safety hazard.
Interesting question, TWW.
FWIW, I believe all the townhouses pictured are over 10 years old. The new fence is the Belle Meade’s sop to its poor neighbors if I’m viewing the photos correctly…
Maybe a t’house remodel?
The tales I could tell about certain Ferndale residents (and some soon to move residents). Some were nice, many, not.
Midtown near La Branch and Elgin has been the recipient of multiple recent sidewalk repairs, including new curb cuts for our friends on wheels.
Yes – that blocked area of Ferndale beside the Belle Meade Absolutely exists and breaks what would be quite a nice sidewalk – it’s a pain.