A modest proposal for brick streets

A couple of months ago, a friend and I started a web project, People's 311, to photograph and map 311 conditions around the city. As part of that effort, I walked all over PLG and other parts of Flatbush taking photos of potholes, damaged street trees, and the like. One thing I noticed is that several streets off of Flatbush Avenue (like the one here) have handsome brick entrances that are in many cases less than handsome due to missing bricks and haphazard repairs. It's as if the DOT previously cared about the look of the streets but has since given up.

Here's a thought: Since a number of these bricked streets are missing bricks, why not sacrifice one of them and remove its bricks, then use the salvaged pieces to fix the others?  I'll send this to the Community Board and see what they have to say.

Comments

[FreeLee]

I live on Lefferts Ave near one of the brick crosswalks. There was a rock and brick obsessed street person who would dig up bricks here and there and carry them around in his coat pocket (I'm not making this up!), sometimes dropping them at strategic moments as one would pass him, narrowly missing a foot!
He and large trucks have helped de-construct the job that the DOT bricklayers had done.

[Matthew Arnold]

Kool idea. People's 311.

I doubt you would need to have to sacrifice the one street for the rest. These seem like relatively recent bricks and could probably be found to be replaced.

[carrie]

" These seem like relatively recent bricks and could probably be found to be replaced. "

One would think. Yet a couple of the streets have been repaired by pouring asphalt over the missing bricks instead of replacing them.

[babs]

The city once used these bricks to designate crosswalks, but has since dropped that idea. I've seen similar asphalt replacement all over the city, not just in PLG. Eventually the entire ting will be paved over and a new crosswalk painted on it.

[oldtimeplger]

Those brick crosswalks were part of a beautification project on Flatbush (sometime in the '80's?) that also included brick paths near the curbs (some may still be visible) as well as benches strategically placed along the curbs. The crosswalks became victim to con ed digging, and the benches were gradually removed because people didn't like what they saw as loitering. So much for beautification!!