The second inductee into the Hall of Shame is this stretch of new sidewalk on the northwest corner of South Fairview Avenue and Elizabeth Street. It has not been stamped, which is in clear violation of the city code on sidewalk marking!
The graffiti, at least, allows us to determine that the sidewalk was poured in June 2020.
I think this might be my first truly unsigned mark. (The previous one I wrote about, in retrospect, was probably a BWL mark that I missed in the shadow.) It’s on the north side of Jerome Street between Custer and Rumsey. It appears to be handwritten, but the placement suggests a builder’s mark rather than graffiti. It’s very odd to date a sidewalk slab without signing. The other way around is fairly common.
I looked at the city’s property records to see the age of the house’s garage. I thought the sidewalk replacement might coincide with a garage being built, since the mark is in front of the driveway. I discovered that the house has no garage. Hooray! I can’t be tempted to spend an hour and a half chasing garage-related leads!
Surprise! I felt up to a short walk after all, so here’s a bonus entry. This is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.
There is a date in the lower right corner, but no name anywhere that I can see. Although scofflaws who stamp a name without a date are fairly common, this is the only date without a name I have seen. I know it’s possible for the name to wear away faster than the date, presumably when the mark is made more shallowly for some reason, but if there was ever one here it is completely gone.
Update 12/20/20: I now know that the Board of Water and Light usually stamps “BWL” in the lower left and a date in the lower right. The date style seems to match theirs. So, my guess on further consideration is that this is a BWL stamp and I missed the mark in the shadow. In fact, I have walked this block in daylight and I am pretty sure I remember a BWL stamp in this vicinity, so that is probably what this is. I’ll have to check again sometime.