Today marks our 100th post on The Stumblr, our blog documenting the shoddy conditions of San Diego’s sidewalks.
To celebrate, we’ve posted the prettiest cracked sidewalk we could find. The 2000 block of Bacon Street in Ocean Beach has a sidewalk divot in the shape of a heart — it’s even been tinted pink.
In the three months since we launched The Stumblr, we’ve received a lot of love. The city smoothed out a block in Hillcrest, allowing a senior citizen who sent in photos to resume walking to her local grocery store. The city also removed a tree covering a broken sidewalk in Point Loma. The Atlantic Cities, San Diego Magazine and Tumblr all highlighted our efforts. We even inspired a new Stumblr in Chicago.
And it doesn’t end there. The city is considering a $1 million evaluation of sidewalks citywide next year, which is likely the first step toward changing an illogical policy that generally makes homeowners responsible for sidewalk repairs, even though the city is liable when someone trips and falls.
Mayor Bob Filner said he supports the evaluation, but didn’t include it in his proposed budget. Councilman Mark Kersey, who heads the city’s infrastructure committee, is pushing for the funding. This week the independent budget analyst recommended the sidewalk study be included in the final budget, and noted our role in increasing awareness of sidewalk problems.
Keep your photos coming. Please email them to me at liam@vosd.org. Make sure to include your full name and the location in this style: “100 block of Main Street.” We’re especially interested in sidewalks in southern and eastern areas of the city because we don’t have too many and the neighborhoods there often are old.
By submitting your photo to us, you’re allowing us to use the image in any or all of our publications. We’re thinking about creating an art project out of the photos, and if you have any ideas for how to best display the sidewalk pictures, let me know.
Here’s a map of all The Stumblr posts so far:
View Mapping The Stumblr in a larger map
Liam Dillon is a news reporter for Voice of San Diego. He covers how regular people interact with local government. What should he write about next?
Please contact him directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663.
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