the concrete canvas

Karen Ocker reports from Mid City:

I spent a half hour touring sidewalks. I rode my bike so I could fully experience the safety and beauty of nearby sidewalks with a good bit of speed – the speed bumps, hazards, disappearing sidewalks, blocked sidewalks, (neighbors have been reporting this place for years) obstructions, and sidewalks that faded away or simply began and ended in the middle of nowhere. There were examples of vegetation obscuring views along the way. One of my favorite Mid-City sidewalks is intersected by multi-color terrazzo tile, hand laid cobble stone swirls, and also a section of what looks like green concrete all meeting up with ordinary gray city sidewalks. It’s a gem that should be treasured. There is a red Mid-City Sidewalk just off of Bienville. There are a number of brick sidewalks like this one on Bank Street . There’s a two tone brick strip intersecting a sidewalk on Iberville. On Carrollton there are several mismatched sidewalks red brick ones and a badly tiled slate sidewalk with painted lines encouraging customers to park on sidewalks. There are many expressive etchings on Canal. DJ loves sidewalks. (Especially freshly poured ones). City ordinances specifically require the removal of utility company markings but it’s hard to find a block in my neighborhood without these cryptic / hieroglyphic-like communications. Some look more like an exercise in minimalism or pointillism and run the length of entire blocks, and others are in plain english. Is it spilled paint? Or is it art? Who decides? Is paint really permanent? While it might take longer than chalk to wear off, paint eventually fades away. The code doesn’t seem specify rules on materials or their permanency but in an email to a friend, Mendoza determined that chalk is o.k. The hopscotch board has been saved!! Ultimately, all decisions seem to be at Mr. Mendoza’s discretion as enforcer and sidewalk design critic.

Should all these property owners be forced to replace their sidewalks with gray concrete or paint over them? Seems to me that would equal fair and balanced enforcement of all these code violations.

R.I.P