Sidewalk markings don't usually excite me. When I put out the garbage and recycling last night, however, I did a double-take when I noticed bright orange spray paint marking the blacktop blight outside of my house, left there by Boston Water last October. They sent me a letter notifying me about a lead pipe part that connected our building to the network of city pipes under the streets, offering to subsidize most of the cost if we arranged to have them replace it. There's no children in this building, and I Brita all of my drinking water or boil tap water (I suppose I brush my teeth with unfiltered water, though), but we figured it was a wise replacement nonetheless. What I thought was going to be a very pricey endeavor turned into just a $350 bill after the subsidy.
The crew arrived one morning, dug up the sidewalk, showed me all 12" of the pipe they replaced, patched up the hole with blacktop, and moved on to the next lead pipe. Before they left, I asked about the blacktop, and they mentioned that someone would be by soon thereafter to pour new concrete. After a month of staring at the blacktop, and seeing similar blights all throughout Southie, I figured we were stuck with the scar forever.
But now I'm seeing these sidewalk markings, not just outside of our blacktop, but also around the blacktop outside of a neighbor's home. I'm hoping the concrete fairy will be here any day now.
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