Some things showed up in front of my house today

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
04/25/2020 at 01:34 • Filed to: Road Construction

Looks like the road and sewer reconstruction is finally going to happen after years of promises. As bad as the road looks in pictures, it’s way worse in person. And the curbs are basically dissolving. And the storm and septic sewers are still combined.

Unfortunately they’re doing it in the one friggin summer where we can’t friggin go anywhere to get away from the noise and dust, but at least it’s finally happening.

No sooner did all this stuff get dropped off, than my wife caught the little one “jumping” the Cozy Coupe off of the big road plates they put on my other parkway around the corner.

The other bad news is I have to foot half the bill for the parts of the sidewalk that need to be replaced :/

DISCUSSION (30)

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 01:46

I have to foot half the bill for the parts of the sidewalk that need to be replaced

Say what ??

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn
04/25/2020 at 01:52

Yep. It was either that, or I could have chosen to leave the sidewalks. But as you can see, much of the sidewalk is well and truly FUBAR'd.

smobgirl > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 01:56

I was going to comment on the sidewalk - here I think they’d charge you for the whole thing.

I had no idea that sidewalk condition was something I had to look for when buying a house. Thankfully this is a “poor” neighborhood and the city got grants to upgrade (corner ramps!) and repair sidewalks in my area a few years ago or I would have owed several thousand in repairs. Folks getting targeted in the current inspections aren’t so lucky.

PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 01:57

Can you file a homeowners insurance claim for the busted sidewalk? I t’s on the property.

RPM esq. > PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120
04/25/2020 at 03:06

Sounds like a maintenance item...same as the difference between a roof that springs a gradual leak as opposed to one that has a tree fall on it. Ask me how I know.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 03:57

I truly mean well... but I have to ask...do you really live in a first world country?

We wouldn’t get charged for an sidewalk damage unless we did that damage ourselves. And the basic infrastructure of sewers, stormwater, roads and guttering would rarely be allowed to disintegrate to that extent. #shudder

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 04:15

huh... over here the sidewalk and beyond is the counties problem... i know this coz i got a sinkhole on me driveway....busted pipe... had it happened 2 ft further along the gubment woulda fixed it for free.,....

but as it was i had to dig a massive hole meself and pay someone to fix the damn pipe.. (digging the hole meself made it a lot cheaper)

Merfthemadmauler > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 05:08

I only see about an 8ft section of sidewalk that needs repair. The rest shows character or patina.

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 07:58

This kind of project is like about 50% of the projects that are my work as an engineer (any thing that follows is my opinion and not the opinion of anyone that I work for, and also I’m not providing legal advice ) .

If the sidewalk is in the public right of way or a public easement then the public entity owning the ROW is responsible for the cost of repair. If it is on private property then they are being nice to split the costs.

If the sidewalk is in the ROW or an easement you can push back on having any financial responsibility.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 08:04

They did that in my neighborhood last summer, only they didn’t finish on time before winter. They’re just starting to finish the final paving now.

Sidewalks weren’t too bad but they spot replaced for free (2 segments in front of my house)

Storm was new so everyone got new driveway aprons and new parkway grass.

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
04/25/2020 at 08:11

I often have half hour discussions on public policy for maintaining (or not) public infrastructure with potential clients just as a warm up. Many American municipalities choose to follow the “run to failure” option because that pushes costs into the future where it may be someone else’s problem or at least the public can’t argue about the need to spend the money. Most Americans want their public tax costs low leading this to be a widely adopted approach.

But the bill is coming due.

Lots of American infrastructure was built mid 20th century and now has reached the end of the lifespan. And emergency failures are more expensive than proactive maintenance.

(All opinions are my own and do not represent the opinions of entities that I may work for.)

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
04/25/2020 at 08:15

The way I look at it is that you either fix your house or you actively choose to live in a broken building.

shop-teacher > PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120
04/25/2020 at 08:50

Nope.

shop-teacher > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
04/25/2020 at 08:52

Beyond the sidewalk is the city's problem, but the sidewalk itself is 50/50 here.

shop-teacher > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
04/25/2020 at 08:56

For years city leaders were content to let things crumble, in order to keep property taxes low. Leadership has changed, and they have been working steadily for the last 6-8 years to fix that. It has come with higher taxes, but I voted yes to all the initiatives to fix this town. It’s actually a very nice place to live, and I am willing to pay the price to make it look that way.

shop-teacher > LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
04/25/2020 at 09:03

That’s basically what happened here. Leadership finally changed, and things have been getting fixed steadily for the last 6-8 years. Three initiatives have passed in that time. One to fix the crumbling roads, one to take out library from.a 1972 time capsule into current day (finished a few months ago). The final one passed this election, to fix the schools.

I voted yes with the majority on all three. Yes, it is costing me a not insignificant amount of money. As you say though, the bill has come due. I intend to live in this town for a long time, and these things need to be fixed.

shop-teacher > LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com
04/25/2020 at 09:07

It is actually on my property, which is unusual around here. This street wasn’t originally a street though, it was a driveway for the farm house about 3/4 of a block north. When it was made into a street in the 19 20's, it was shoe horned into a narrower right of way than usual.

shop-teacher > smobgirl
04/25/2020 at 09:14

For years here, city leaders allowed infrastructure to crumble in order to keep property taxes lower. If one was to attempt to ride a road bike on our sidewalks, it would not be long before a wheel was bent.

Thankfully leadership has changed, and things have been getting fixed steadily for the last 6-8 years. It has required passing bond initiatives, and higher taxes to pay for them. This is actually a really nice place to live, and the people who live here (myself included) have chosen to accept those as the necessary price to make our town look as nice as it actually is.

shop-teacher > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
04/25/2020 at 09:49

The city will replace what they have to cut up inorder to fix things for free, but not the full driveway apron. If home owners want an entirely new apron, they'll have to pay for the part that didn't have to be removed. My driveway is around the corner on a different street, so I don't have to deal with that.

shop-teacher > Merfthemadmauler
04/25/2020 at 09:50

It’s worse in person.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 10:14

I guess since they had most of the parkway dug up they figured it would have been more work to only patch the aprons. Though oddly they replaced existing concrete aprons with concrete and asphalt with asphalt. I would have happily paid extra for a nice concrete apron but they didn’t ask.

Actually I really need a new driveway and a new front lawn, I wish I could have paid extra for those too ha.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 10:38

RIP your street. The cost share for sidewalks is horse shit tho.

shop-teacher > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
04/25/2020 at 10:44

They did actually ask that. You would have been able to do that if you lived here , but you also would have had to fully pay for half the apron, and half of the replaced sidewalk, so ...

shop-teacher > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
04/25/2020 at 10:45

It needs to happen. Badly.

The ms the breaks. I quite like this town otherwise.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 13:11

Hmm I don’t know anything about that but that seems like a lousy excuse to recoup some cash. But also the curbs are never repaired around here. They have recently been going at the concrete pushed up by trees with a massive grinder and it works for the most part, as long as you aren’t riding a bike or in a wheelchair. Still much better than before.

shop-teacher > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
04/25/2020 at 13:38

We have a lot of sidewalks in this town that have been made into mini jump ramps, by trees pushing them up.

DipodomysDeserti > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 13:46

I think people were given the option of having sidewalks built in my neighborhood when it was constructed. Most chose not to. There’s a weird patchwork of sidewalks. There’s still a neighborhood bylaw that says you can’t land planes on the street, so I think it was all dirt roads when the houses were first built.

DipodomysDeserti > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
04/25/2020 at 13:48

A lot of Americans debate whether or not Illinois is a first world state.

shop-teacher > DipodomysDeserti
04/25/2020 at 15:53

That is strange. I definitely wouldn't bother paying for sidewalks, if there were no there sidewalks to connect to. There's a formerly unincorporated area nearby that didn't have sidewalks. Now that it is unincorporated, whenever one of them does any renovation, the city makes them up a sidewalk on their property. So in that part of town there is a similar stop start patchwork of sidewalks.

DipodomysDeserti > shop-teacher
04/25/2020 at 16:05

I live in foothills, too, so a lot of houses don’t even have flat front yards, and the streets are narrow.