(SBA) - Drive through almost any neighborhood where utility work has recently taken place and you will see the evidence: bright red, and blue paint sprayed across sidewalks, curbs, streets and lawns.
There is a good reason for these markings. Water, gas, electric, sewer and communications lines must be located before digging begins. The markings protect workers, homeowners and the utilities themselves. No reasonable person would object to that.
But what happens when the work in finished?
In our neighborhood, considerable utility and construction work has taken place during the past year. The workers eventually leave, the equipment disappears, and the holes are filled – but the paint remains. Concrete sidewalks, curbs and streets that homeowners and taxpayers have spent considerable money maintaining are left covered with lines, arrows, numbers and symbols.
Individually, one paint line may seem insignificant. Collectively, they change the appearance of the neighborhood. A neighborhood only twenty years old begins to look worn, neglected and scarred.
We would never accept someone randomly spray-painting our sidewalks and streets. We would call it vandalism or graffiti. Utility markings are certainly different because they serve a legitimate and necessary purpose. But once the purpose has ended, why should the visual damage simply be abandoned for residents to live with?
Appearance matters. Well-maintained streets, sidewalks, lawns and homes contribute to neighborhood pride and property values. Just as importantly, they establish a standard. When public spaces look cared for, people are more inclined to care for them. When damage and disorder are routinely left behind, neglect gradually becomes normal.
The solution need not be complicated. Whoever performs or orders the work should also be responsible for reasonable restoration when the project is complete. Grass should be repaired. Excavations should be properly restored. Any temporary utility markings on permanent surfaces should be removed, minimized, or made with products designed to disappear within a reasonable period.
This is not an argument against utility companies or the workers who keep essential services operating. Their work is necessary and appreciated.
It is simply a request that completing a job should mean more than putting away the equipment and driving away.
If we require homeowners to maintain their property and neighborhoods to meet community standards, shouldn’t the companies and public agencies working in those same neighborhoods be expected to leave them in reasonably good condition when their work is finished?
Our City Council needs to address this situation and determine who is responsible for restoring our streets, sidewalks, curbs and other public spaces after utility work is completed.
Temporary markings should be temporary.
Our neighborhoods should not become the permanent record of every utility project that has ever taken place there.
