Capital City Sidewalks

As it’s almost a new year (at least, for me), I wanted to prove that the blog is still in existence, although I suppose I am really just following the usual trajectory of a dying blog (as so poignantly described by Jaime J. Weinman in the blog “Something Old, Nothing New,” which I discovered when it was already long ossified).

I actually took this one while on my lunch break from jury duty back in September. This is a rare case in which I made it all the way through voir dire and actually served, although it was a very short trial. I walked past Reutter Park, with its impressive (but sadly dry and litter-ridden) fountain and its pleasant shade trees. On West Kalamazoo Street, beside the park, I found this stamp.

I’m not sure who the IMI of this stamp is. I can find two possible candidates: one is IMI Industrial Services Group, “a leading single-source, industrial specialty contractor.” Their site indicates that they are an international business, but they don’t mention anything about concrete. They do seem to do major construction projects and in the process of that they no doubt do some concrete, but that seems like an unlikely candidate for a stretch of sidewalk in front of Reutter Park.

Another IMI that I can find is Irving Materials Inc., based in Indiana. They are in the concrete business, but the problem is that they say they work in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee – not Michigan.

I found this in my drafts, apparently having never posted it when I thought I did back on August 7. On the eve of a new year, it seems especially appropriate to post it, as late as it is.

The fourth anniversary of the blog was August 7; it launched on August 7, 2020, with a photo of an undated O & M stamp on Regent Street. For the first year, I posted a unique stamp every day without fail. Near the end of that time, it started to get onerous to find enough new ones to sustain that, so I dropped to three times a week on the first anniversary. On the second anniversary, I dropped to twice a week, and on the third, to once a week. My intention was to reassess the posting schedule each year on the anniversary, but to be as close to perfect as I could manage in between those times.

I had planned to announce on the fourth anniversary that it was time to retire from regular posting entirely, not with the intention of ending the blog, but just posting only when I actually had something new enough and interesting enough to warrant it. I regret that I didn’t make it to the anniversary, and fell out of regular posting some months before. I just don’t find enough new stamps in my usual neighborhoods anymore. I want to reassure myself that this is proof of my accomplishment rather than something to feel sorry for. I have so exhaustively combed the area that there just aren’t new stamps left to find. I am happy to pick up new ones when I’m in another part of town, but I can’t rely on being elsewhere often enough to sustain regular posting.

So, let’s make official what was unofficial: there is no longer a rigorous posting schedule, but I don’t intend to cease collecting news about sidewalks, nor photographing them when I find something novel.

Until then: keep looking down!