Neighbors chip in to replace aging sidewalks

Friday, September 19, 2008
East Seminary residents collaborated with each other and DePauw to fix and replace the sidewalk and curbs in front of their homes both personal and Greek.

New sidewalks have been installed on Seminary St. in Greencastle following a neighborhood agreement.

The sidewalk project began once Paul Wright, house director at the Alpha Tau Omega independently began curb replacement. Once neighbors Dave Murray and Neal Abraham saw this they began a campaign of their own.

"After we talked with Paul Wright, we were inspired," said Abraham. "We first went to all our neighbors to ask them if they would be willing to chip in to fix the sidewalks in front of their homes."

What must be noted is that this sidewalk improvement came at no cost to the taxpayers.

Mayor Sue Murray said, "There was no money used from the city or from grants on this project. It was all privately funded by the residents along the street as well as St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Tau Delta fraternities, Alpha Chi Omega sorority and DePauw University."

According to Abraham, the total cost of the project was over $20,000. Joe Spiker Excavating, Inc. was the company who put in all the new curbing along the street. Spiker's currently have signs outside of the Pi Beta Phi sorority on the south side of the street. Abraham believes this is a part of the same project but couldn't be certain.

The project spans two blocks on a stretch of East Seminary Street between Bloomington Street and Locust Street. The neighbors involved include Dave and Sue Murray, Nafhat and Nadia Nasr, Neal Abraham and Donna Wiley and Steve and Janet Hendershot.

"It's pretty exciting that DePauw, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, two fraternities and two sororities as well as the private homeowner neighbors got together to fund this project without needing any funding from the city," said Abraham.

At least one method of cost-saving was employed in this project. There were some sections of the sidewalk that did not require a full replacement. Instead, those sections were just repaired.

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  • I always believed that the homeowners were the ones who were resposible for maintaining the sidewalks in front of their property. Not sure about curbs.

    It is wonderful that these residents did take care to make their area safer.

    -- Posted by reader 2 on Fri, Sep 19, 2008, at 6:36 AM
  • All the while the sidewalks on Locust and through Depauw have been replaced how many times in the past 20 years (at taxpayers expense)??? It is a shame that the residence of this town cannot get their sidewalks replaced when needed and some (like myself on Sunset Dr) cannot even get ANY sidewalks on city streets (although I have requested it many times). We would not want the Depauw students to trip and scrape their knees...however, it is okay for our small children that use the cracked, broken, raised sidewalks through-out the rest of the town to do so. Come-on "Mayor" Murray...take some action!

    -- Posted by mkycrzy1971 on Fri, Sep 19, 2008, at 7:00 AM
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