Spring Garden St getting worse

There are a few homes on Spring Garden  in the Heights that have fallen into disrepair. Some look like abandoned projects, like this one:

The one to the right has had the roof tarped for quite a while:

And there are too many signs like this:

Seems like some have just walked away...

Bats In My Belfry

(not a picture of my actual attic, but it may as well be...)

We've been dealing with bats in our home for as long as we've been here. Up until now, it has been limited to one or two strays in the summer that got down into our living space. But very lately, we've been hearing noises in the 3rd floor ceiling AND in the ceiling between the 2nd and 3rd floors!
Old tall Easton Heights homes are notorious for housing bat colonies. The buildup of guano is bad enough, but when they get into your living space, that's a major concern. Bats are at once a very helpful member of Earth's living creatures AND one of the scariest, fear inducing little mammal you're ever likely to encounter.
We have some professionals coming tomorrow to assess the situation. I need this to be fixed because I'm about ready to burn the place down or jump off the roof.

Acute, Quite

Love this building. It is so creatively built on its lot; the facade runs parallel to Walnut Ave, but the sides do not run perpendicular to the street (since Walnut itself is at an angle across the street grid). I'll have to see if I can get a pic from the alleyway, see if the whole building is a parallelogram.
It must be very odd looking inside the upper rooms, without having square corners.
The window framing and roof parapet look to be all formed tin, which is nice since it lasts so much better than wood, but the building has fallen into disrepair and cannot be appreciated properly.

Easton: It Has It's Ups And Downs

This is an odd post to make. We here at Ugly Easton like to focus on the ugly, the inappropriate, the tacky, the ill-designed homes around us. But this one is different because of the intent of the ugly in question.
A gentleman recently moved into this apartment in the West Ward. He has to use a wheelchair. This is an unfortunate reality for this gentleman and we can understand that his quality of life would be improved if certain allowances were made for him.
So the landlord installed a wheelchair elevator for him.

What at first looks like a refrigerator left at the curb, is in fact an elevator. The installers actually CUT OUT the fanciful century-old stonework and installed this monstrosity RIGHT THERE IN FRONT!
Now, a number of questions come up;
One: Why wasn't this installed in the yard? Or at the side of the house?
Two: Is it safe for kids? there are a lot of little kids in this neighborhood, and there are NO SAFEGUARDS around this thing!
Three: Why, with so many other much better suited properties nearby (Bushkill House for instance) would someone in a wheelchair choose to live on a steep hill? Remember, he's RENTING here!
Four: Why were none of the neighbors asked about this? If this was a Historical Neighborhood, it wouldn't fly, but the aesthetics are clearly affected nonetheless. Some years ago when a neighbor up the street wanted to install a garage, the neighbors were surveyed, but not in this case.

The sidewalk in this block is just a mess, and the DOT hasn't gotten around to installing ramps on any of the corners yet. What will this person do in the winter? He doesn't drive but uses his motorized chair to go everywhere.
But back to our whole reason for being: this thing is just plain ugly and impractical.

Discuss.

inside the ugly

I've had a lot of work to do on the house as of late. We're finishing an unfinished room on the 3rd floor for our bedroom. I'm at the priming for paint stage, already passed the insulate, run wires, install outlets, drywall, tape, spackle steps.
I've fit in some outdoor time too, cobbling together a backyard patio of sorts.
Nope, no pictures, have to keep up the aura of mystery! But for those of you who have been through it, you know...
On another note, I've figured out how to send emails from my dumb phone (it's not a smart phone, you see...) so I really need to get back to posting.

EASD to sell Cottingham School

In case you didn't see the article, here you go.
We here at UE reported on this eyesore back in March 2010! SO they finally got around to doing something about it, good.
Apartments would be great here, as long as they aren't of the HUD public housing Section 8 variety. This building has tall ceilings and big windows and classic architecture, would make an awesome place to live; they even have parking!
Here's a picture from better days...

technological updates pending

Updates have been infrequent and I apologize. As you might imagine, trying to make time for a blog which requires pictures, research and commentary while living a regular life is not always convenient.
My largest obstacle has been technology; I don't have an iphone or ipad or whatever, just a phone. BUT, I just got a new phone w/ a new service provider, and the built in camera takes much better pictures than my old phone (or even better pictures than my camera for that matter :) )
So, my plan is to snap pics when I'm out and about, hoping no one spots me, sending them directly to this blog, and then writing the captions later on the computer.
There is some MAJOR ugly I've been itching to post, as well as some nice non-ugly updates.

SOON!

The City is Making Progress

This Article in todays' Express Times is a follow up on what properties the City is making progress with. I won't bother with the Armory (I'll believe it when I see it) but 51 S. Warren I would love to see fixed up.

This picture I took of the property in August 2010 when I first blogged about it. It looks the same now. The report points out one BIG problem in Easton: out of town landlords! Faceless companies don't care about neighborhoods, and unless the City goes after them, they can't be bothered to move on these things.

Mayor Panto is Paying Attention

Here's an article about how vacant properties are being targeted by the city.

There are a few properties on this list that I have posted about here before. Coincidence? Maybe so; it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see ugly. But I must commend Mayor Panto for taking this issue seriously. getting rid of blighted properties is in everyone's best interests so I hope they can make some progress on this.
I wouldn't mind if he maybe posted here and thanked me :)

Sobriety Field Testing Parking Enforcement

This was hilarious. The other day there must have been some sort of parking scofflaw crackdown in the WW, because there were at least two of the infamous white patrol cars lurking around, peeking, searching for someone, anyone, to issue a ticket to.
Well, they found one of their favorites; "parked too close to corner". Guy was parked maybe six feet from the corner.
So, I watch the 'parking enforcer' measure out the distance.
With a tape measure?
A stick maybe?
No, he proceeds to guesstimate the distance by walking it out heel to toe. Wow, THAT must be accurate.

Anyway, the parking gestapo must love the WW for ticket revenue. Most corners aren't marked yellow as 'no parking' areas, and most corners don't have signage either.
Most all our curb corners are rounded as well, leaving up for debate the issue of 'distance to corner'.

PA Code actually states no parking within 20' of a crosswalk at a corner. Easton takes this to mean 20' from ANY corner.

So, if you ever get a parking ticket, fight it. Ask them how they measured it. Ask to see the measuring device. If he shows you his foot, you can tell him where he could put it.