Gumbusters

Duane Cummins, Owner, Gum Busters, is pictured at one of his client locations on 18th and M St., NW on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 in Washington D.C. Photogapher: J Carrier/www.j-carrier.com

Yesterday I saw a Downtown BID staffer cleaning gum off the stone sidewalk in front of the Martin Luther King library although I didn't take a photo.

Today's Post has a profile of a Gumbuster in the Source section.

Anyway, I have noticed that areas immediately around high-usage bus stops (and transfers between lines) have tremendous gum on the sidewalk problems. One such area is the 800 block of H Street NE; another is the 400 block of 8th Street SE. The latter is freqented by children of the nearby Hine School. In my opinion, this block needs to be "gumbusted" twice/year. The new brick sidewalks are about 18 months old and frankly they are disgusting.

I hope this gets covered as part of the maintenance agreement between DDOT and the bus shelter-advertising contractor.

Gum and stains on 8th Street SE, Washington, DC.

By the way, when designing streetscapes, it's important to think clearly about the types of materials proposed for particular, especially high-use, locations. Decisions must take into account how heavy the use will be. E.g., the slate doesn't work on the 400 block of 8th Street SE. It gets stained pretty easily and as a result, it sure doesn't look very nice.

It occurs to me that when doing the analysis of current conditions as part of such studies, an evaluation of the state of the sidewalks in terms of gum, stains, etc. tends to be forgotten.