New Sidewalks
By collaboration with landlords and merchants, our capital funds have augmented the total scope of work that could be completed, allowing us to bring down overall construction costs and lay nearly 8,000 square feet of new concrete. The work includes twelve sites that have particularly cracked, uneven, or otherwise dangerous sidewalks.
Why would MARP destroy historically irreplaceable bluestone sidewalks and replace with tinted cement? Wouldn't it have been cheaper to lift slabs and re-level them? Furthermore, with a little bit of foresight the bluestone could have been sold to finance much of the cost of the replacement.
If i were a business owner paying MARP dues, i would be concerned about how my money is being spent
Your concern is valid, and I assure you we took your concern into account before we started work. The site in question had only 3 smaller pieces of Bluestone remaining, placed close the the property line, not any of the large slabs you find throughout most of the neighborhood. These remaining pieces were determined to be cracked into too many shards and small pieces to be salvageable, and the contractors proceeded to break them up further for easier removal. If there was one that appeared large enough to be salvageable, I'm afraid it was an oversight on ours and the contractor's part, and I apologize, as preserving any historic remnants of the built environment is a major priority for us.
We were extremely torn about the situation and how best to handle it. We always prefer to leave any remaining Bluestone on Myrtle Avenue, even though they are only scattered in very few places. But given that the funds were directed to MARP from the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities via the Department of Small Business Services (fyi, MARP does not collect dues, and has to raise public and private funds for its work), there was a very strong feeling that any cracked Bluestone pieces be removed to ensure that the sidewalks be navigable by people with disabilities or in wheelchairs.
The other 11 sites being worked on to improve the avenue's accessibility involve replacing concrete and asphalt.