Viewpoint: She didn't know it's a no-no
It was the contractor’s idea.
Kerri Morris was having a retaining wall built and new driveway poured at her house on West High Street in Davenport last month when the driveway contractor made a suggestion.
“The sidewalk in front of the house had buckled over time, and the guy said, ‘Call the city. They’ll pay for half of a new sidewalk,’” Morris said.
Her house is a block from a grade school and on the parking route for people going to the nearby Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, and she was worried about somebody falling on the uneven concrete.
City workers responded quickly. Two old sections of sidewalk in front of her house were removed, and new cement was poured. When the workers left, Morris and her 13-year-old daughter, Shannon O’Brien, went outside to inspect.
And they did something that people have been doing since the invention of wet cement:
“My daughter and I knelt down together, interlocked our hands, and pressed them gently into the cement,” Morris said. “We were careful not to make a mess or create ridges around our hands that would create difficulty shoveling snow and ice in the winter.”
On Wednesday, the newly poured slab disappeared.
Workers from Kelly Construction, which is a contractor for the city, were asked to tear out the three-week-old slab and pour another one. The problem, Morris was told, is that she had “defaced” the new sidewalk with her set of handprints.
On Friday, the city sidewalk manager said he couldn’t comment on the matter, directing questions to a city spokeswoman. But Alderman Ray Ambrose had an explanation for why a perfectly good sidewalk was torn out.
“The inspector saw it, and he took it as graffiti,” he said. “He thought it was vandalism, not a family heirloom of sorts. If the inspector had an opportunity to talk to the lady, I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened.”
But it did, and Morris was afraid she would get a second bill for her half of the second slab. Her share for the first two was $143. When Ambrose called the sidewalk inspector and explained, Morris was told she didn’t have to pay.
She said it never occurred to her that the impulsive little gesture that she made with her daughter could be regarded as defacing public property. She paid for half of it, after all, and maintains the walk, which is directly in front of her house.
“I never really debated in my mind: Is this city property or private property?” she said. “Had I given it purposeful consideration, I wouldn’t have done it. I certainly wasn’t out to destroy anything.”
Not all was lost.
Morris’ next-door neighbor, Bobbi Smith, happened to see the crew come and begin removing the sidewalk. She dashed outside to find out what was going on. The landscaper who was working on the retaining wall joined in, and the two convinced Kelly Construction to save the little corner of cement that contained the handprints. They obliged.
“Those two do such special things as a mother and daughter,” Smith said of her neighbors. “I tear up just thinking about the wonderful bond they have. This business with the handprints was just a special, spontaneous moment for them.”
And it’s not really ruined.
“They still have the hands, and a lesson has been learned,” Smith said. “I have talked to so many people who didn’t know you can’t do what they did. What a waste of taxpayer money — tearing it up again, especially when there are so many other sidewalks that need to be replaced.”
Morris said she’ll find a place along her new retaining wall for the rescued chunk of cement.
“My daughter’s a good kid and knows the difference between vandalism and simply making a memory in the cement,” she said. “It was merely a sweet whim with no malice, and I was not teaching her the ‘art of defacement.’ We felt it was the most beautiful sidewalk in all of Davenport.”
Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.