E. Kalamazoo St., Leavitt & Starck, 2021

I have to issue a partial retraction to my Hall of Shame entry on the Allen Place project (on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Shepard and Allen). I had believed that no sidewalk marking was left anywhere on the Kalamazoo side of the building when the new sidewalk was laid. Recently, however, I discovered that there is one solitary stamp in the expanse, located not in the main sidewalk path but on the pavement next to the curb, oddly facing the curb instead of the building. The stamp is, in fact, right in the area that I saw being installed and photographed for a previous entry.

Let’s say I will put an asterisk by the Hall of Shame entry. I still think there should be more stamps for a project this big. By convention, stamps are placed at the start and end of a run of new sidewalk, though that is not required in Lansing (the code here merely says they must stamp wherever they are directed to by the Director of Public Works).

The stamp is in the lower right of this photo.

Shepard St., Leavitt & Starck, 2021

Here’s a new one – both a new contractor for me and a new date. It’s on the west side of Shepard Street north of Kalamazoo, alongside the former Allen Neighborhood Center, which is currently transforming into a mixed use development called Allen Place.

This stamp is on the south end of the new sidewalk.

Leavitt & Starck Excavating, Inc., is based in Ovid. It was founded in 2011 by Dean Leavitt and Tom Starck. They must be involved in the Allen Place project.

The sidewalk curves at one point to avoid tree roots.
This is midway along. Oddly, there is no stamp to mark the north end of the new stretch of sidewalk.