Thursday, December 6, 2012

Save Wayne's Brick Paved Street!


Dan's photograph of Wayne Street
Perhaps the last two way brick paved
 patch of street in existence in Chicago.







                  Fellow neighbor Dan on the village message board is absolutely correct about the state of Wayne's brick paved road. We need to enlist the aid of our richest neighbor Colonel James Pritzker. He is the only one who could single handedly bankroll this. Of course having the alderman make it a priority before the city council would help. This street is almost more patch than brick at this point and its getting sad. Watching this street deteriorate over the past five years has not been fun. Whenever the street is worked with the bricks are carefully placed and stacked on the side and then its just patched with asphalt. And the bricks are either taken by whomever or thrown out. (This blogger has a couple that are used as door stops) This is a very special patch of street that needs to be restored! More pictures in the following weeks will follow. This brick paved street makes the Mayne Stage all the more picturesque. And its a part of our heritage. How many stretches of street in Chicago are still brick paved? This is one of the few that have survived. There is also a few stretches on the west side of Glenwood, namely that between Lunt and Morse. Is it more expensive than a road replacement? Perhaps. We don't have many roads like this anymore though especially on the Northside.

To read Dan's written statement in total click below.


Dan's written statement verbatim

"Once again this public utility has done work in our neighborhood and left behind slipshod repairs after opening up large holes in our street. It is disgraceful how this company comes into our neighborhood; does the work they need to do; and leaves it looking more run down. I am sure the executives at People's Gas would be the first to complain if their own streets were left they way their workers leave ours. It is especially infuriating that this company keeps raising rates and gives second rate service.

As I have noted in a past posting, the brick streets are the most economical surface because they have never needed resurfacing since they time they were first in over 100 years ago. Here in the 6900 block they have opened up a series of holes to work on gas lines, removed the bricks, hauled them off, and replaced them with asphalt. The City Water Department, Streets and Sanitation, and now the public utilities such as People's Gas, consistently come into the neighbor and leave an ugly mess behind.

What is most frustrating is that our elected officials (the mayor and the alderman) have been unresponsive on this issue. Our elected representatives do not hold city departments and the public utilities accountable and they do not require them to restore our streets and and lawns to the same condition they were in before work was started."

10 comments:

Craig Gernhardt said...

The problem here is this chump went to Everyblock first to complain about his People's Gas problem. He'll get nothing done there. Those folks are total wack jobs. If he had any internet sense - he would've/should've come to you or me first.

I'll sit on this problem a week - to let it grow mold on Everyblock, then I'll post a story.

It'll get fixed quicker.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

@Craig. Sounds good.

I think this is a major concern for the area. All of us should work on this. E-block is the village message board for better or for worse (for worse). I'm glad Dan posted this and something should be done soon about this because that street is getting real bad.

Yes he should've come to us first.
I picked the best photo he posted. Its good to have many different forums to discuss problems in the community.

Craig Gernhardt said...

Jeff-O, isn't owning your own blog fun? Now you control the news instead of following it.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

@Craig, true.

Essentially E-block is great for raw material. A lot of whats there just isn't presented in a decent or presentable fashion. And E-block's format is just plain ugly.

There is alot that isn't being covered as well that needs to be covered and thats also whats great about a blog.

Unknown said...

This is a much more balanced and better written blog in my opinion. I like it.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

Joe Moore on the village message board said "They (people's gas) also confirmed they will replace the brick pavers on Wayne."

And that's fine for now. But we need a long term solution and a promise to actually restore on the rare beauties that exists in Rogers Park. An actual brick paved street that dates back to the turn of the century (the other century).

Unknown said...

This blog is sweet. I love it. Those others are awful but I like reading what is here.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

????????
Christine Kreutz
someone is using your photo.

Unknown said...

The view down Wayne with the Mayne Stage at the end is one of Rogers Park's finest treasures. The brick paved lane leading up to one of our most treasured historical sites now revitalized in its current state is a rare but important thing for us to preserve. I'm glad to hear that its preservation will be at least temporarily tended to by the contractor doing Peoples Gas work, but I agree a long term plan to continue to preserve this and other areas like it in our neighborhood is very important.

Unknown said...
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