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What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

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Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#41

Post by ghaff »

yardie wrote: post #26
daxorid wrote: post #11

This is interesting, but raises a question. The article mentions: In San Francisco, vault lights are mostly used to illuminate sub-sidewalk basements — ie. basements that extend under the sidewalk. How does this work, legally? Where I live, sidewalks are property of the city (or the HOA, in some cases), and I'd presume the same in SF. Does the title of the sidewalk-adjacent property allow you to excavate N feet beyon…

That must be a western concept. On the east coast it's common for sidewalks to be owned by the landowner yet have to remain unencumbered for the public right of way. Some owners find out the hard way that they are also responsible for maintaining the sidewalk when the city hits them with a notice.

e.g. keeping them cleared of snow. So if you are traveling and there's a snowstorm you're basically responsible for finding someone who will clear it for you.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#44

Post by scurvy »

yardie wrote: post #26
daxorid wrote: post #11

This is interesting, but raises a question. The article mentions: In San Francisco, vault lights are mostly used to illuminate sub-sidewalk basements — ie. basements that extend under the sidewalk. How does this work, legally? Where I live, sidewalks are property of the city (or the HOA, in some cases), and I'd presume the same in SF. Does the title of the sidewalk-adjacent property allow you to excavate N feet beyon…

That must be a western concept. On the east coast it's common for sidewalks to be owned by the landowner yet have to remain unencumbered for the public right of way. Some owners find out the hard way that they are also responsible for maintaining the sidewalk when the city hits them with a notice.

Same thing in SF. Owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalk, and the city will let you know when you need to repair them.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#45

Post by sampo »

rconti wrote: post #36
StClaire wrote: post #27

Denver has these, you can see them on Larimer and Market street in LoDo. Around the 1890s, the locals dug out a series of tunnels through the city. The snows would come in and people would just go underground for a few days for business. There was a bar that closed about a year ago called the Blake Street Vault—it used to be a bank—and if you asked they would take you into the basement to see the vault and the dumbwa…

Stupid question: Wouldn't the snow cover the vault lights? (I know, they could clear them by clearing the sidewalks...)

Snow also scatters light a lot, if it's not too dirty. One example I found, it takes about 8 cm (3 inches) of snow to reduce the light irradiance to half.

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#47

Post by cr0sh »

yardie wrote: post #26
daxorid wrote: post #11

This is interesting, but raises a question. The article mentions: In San Francisco, vault lights are mostly used to illuminate sub-sidewalk basements — ie. basements that extend under the sidewalk. How does this work, legally? Where I live, sidewalks are property of the city (or the HOA, in some cases), and I'd presume the same in SF. Does the title of the sidewalk-adjacent property allow you to excavate N feet beyon…

That must be a western concept. On the east coast it's common for sidewalks to be owned by the landowner yet have to remain unencumbered for the public right of way. Some owners find out the hard way that they are also responsible for maintaining the sidewalk when the city hits them with a notice.

> Some owners find out the hard way that they are also responsible for maintaining the sidewalk when the city hits them with a notice.

I live in Phoenix; in my neighborhood it's basically the same way. City comes around, tears up the sidewalk to fix something (water main or such) - and you the homeowner are responsible for fixing the sidewalk. Yay.

About all the city will do is put some asphalt over the bare dirt, but if you want the sidewalk to be concrete, you have to pay for that work.

Since a lot of the properties in my neighborhood are rentals, you can guess how often such asphalt patches are properly "fixed". Usually, you have to put in a blight notice to the city to have them contact the actual homeowner to get them to actually fix it properly.

One of the downsides living where I do. But then again, I live "below my means" (as an SWE), and I don't have an HOA, and block construction, and I can work on my cars when I want, where I want, how I want. If that means an angle grinder and welder come out at 8pm, so be it. Neighbors can't complain until after 10pm or so, and only then for excessive noise.

Take the good with the bad...

Re: What are those grids of glass in the sidewalk and why are they purple?

#50

Post by jagger27 »

yardie wrote: post #26
daxorid wrote: post #11

This is interesting, but raises a question. The article mentions: In San Francisco, vault lights are mostly used to illuminate sub-sidewalk basements — ie. basements that extend under the sidewalk. How does this work, legally? Where I live, sidewalks are property of the city (or the HOA, in some cases), and I'd presume the same in SF. Does the title of the sidewalk-adjacent property allow you to excavate N feet beyon…

That must be a western concept. On the east coast it's common for sidewalks to be owned by the landowner yet have to remain unencumbered for the public right of way. Some owners find out the hard way that they are also responsible for maintaining the sidewalk when the city hits them with a notice.

As far as I know it's not like this in Ottawa. For example, you can get a pretty big fine if you cut out a section of curb to widen your driveway entrance.
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