The brick-lined sidewalk on Park Street was, at one time, evenly set and attractive. No more.

The bricking undulates, severely so in some places, making it difficult to walk in good weather and exceedingly difficult to shovel in bad.

The walkway has gotten so rough in front of the traffic court building on the corner of Park and Ash streets, the city’s public works crews have pulled up a wide stretch of bricks between the building and the sidewalk. For now, in its place is a patch of leveled dirt. It will, eventually, be covered with asphalt.

Asphalt? Could the city choose an uglier overlayment?

It’s important to have a safe sidewalk, certainly, but it’s as important to have some pride in appearance, especially when the bricks could have been re-set to restore the sidewalk instead of ripping it up.

American cities — including Lewiston — used to be lined with brick walks until they were gradually replaced with concrete as it became readily available in the late 1800s. An argument could be made that concrete provides a smoother finished product than brick, but Lewiston didn’t opt to fix the Park Street sidewalk with concrete. It’s using asphalt. Ugh.

The city might just post a sign announcing it doesn’t care how the downtown looks.

And maybe it doesn’t care.

In 2002, we vigorously suggested the city ought to address the missing base plates on hundreds of downtown streetlights. The gaping holes are ugly, and dangerous.

Base plates are designed to conceal the anchor and wires that hold up the poles and electrify the lights, and without the plates the innards of the poles invite mischief. Thick wires poke out, and curious children might wonder what’s inside.

The exposed wires are also a fire hazard if trash gets trapped in the cavity, so it makes sense for the city to pay attention to the hazard — and the aesthetic.

When we brought this concern up to the city years ago, we were told the city was in the process of erecting a number of new streetlights, which would take care of some of the problem. Some, but not all.

We had suggested that while the city worked through replacing the lights, it ought to order a bunch of inexpensive aluminum cover plates and tamper-resistant screws to secure unsafe poles, preventing thieves from lifting the covers as they had been doing.

The city didn’t do that. Instead, on the day our editorial appeared in 2002, city workers were seen strapping duct tape around base poles to cover the gaping holes. Since then, the tape has weathered horribly, disintegrated and just plain disappeared.

The holes and the hazard are back.

In remarking on the missing plates eight years ago, we suggested this inattention was the kind of thing that suggests the city just doesn’t care about its image as much as it should.

While we are all in favor of saving money, this is one message we can’t afford to send.

editorialboard@sunjournal.com

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