The Pearl District’s sidewalks—like its people—are getting older. That’s purely anecdotal, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone walking around.
Carole Morse was doing so on a stretch on Northwest Irving Street between 19th and 20th last month. A frequent walker, Morse uses a cane. On her way to an eye appointment in the district, she decided to take a new route from her home in the Pearl.
When she looked up to glance around and get her bearings, Morse tripped over a rise in the sidewalk and fell and hit her head. A good walk spoiled.
“It was a new environment,” said Morse, standing near the spot where she fell. “I also hurt my knee and ankle. We elders fall hard,” explaining how she prefers the term elder because of the respect and wisdom it imparts.
Two week later, Morse is feeling better and the bruising she hides under a natty hat and sunglasses has gone down. But her confidence to walk everywhere is shaken, and her awareness of how sidewalks can be tripping hazards is heightened.
“But there’s something about the Good Samaritans in this, too,” she says. “A young man walking his dog across the street called out, ‘Are you OK?’ and came right over, and a woman who lives right here at the Addison Condominiums came out and brought me a chair, and gave me water and an icepack.” After the two helpers got her into the chair, Morse called her son who works nearby and he took her to the ER.
Studying the sidewalk that took her down, we agree it appears as if someone had tried to file it down to make it level.
In other areas in the Pearl, DIYers have painted sidewalk buckles in safety orange or yellow to alert walkers. A particularly nasty one on Northwest Northrup between 13th and 14th provides at least four ways to wipe out.
Who is responsible for maintaining our sidewalks? And when did they become so unloved? These are the types of questions we and our friends ask as we walk down the sidewalk sloshing coffee and tripping on dog leashes.
No one is actively inspecting the sidewalks, it appears. According to the city of Portland’s website, property owners may receive a repair notice if they receive a complaint about a particular sidewalk or driveway.
If you would like to voluntarily fix a sidewalk yourself, you or your contractor must have a Minor Improvement Permit (MIP) for the Bureau of Transportation, costing $75-$248, depending on scope. Repairs done undercover of darkness are free.
Minor improvement permit. Quelle surprise!
The system is completely arbitrary and complaint driven only, at least 10 years ago. I had a minor, truly inconsequential crack in my sidewalk then and received a letter from the City informing me I had 60 days to repair it (by a city-approved contractor) or the city would fix it and send me the bill. No appeals process, no nothing. Meanwhile, within a couple of blocks of my house were egregious sidewalk uplifts and cracks caused by tree roots, which were apparently unconcerning. They had me over a barrel because (of course), the City would have charged me substantially more than a private contractor.
Ah, Portlandia.