This Is What Surprise Looks Like In Sedalia These Days [RANT]

Gentle Reader, I admit I coming at this topic biased.  I absolutely care about this because it's in my yard, but maybe you care, too.

I was at work today, minding my own business, you know. I get at text from my father with this picture.

Apparently the City is tearing the hell out of  the sidewalk in front of the house.  Which.... is fine?  It's something that needed to be done for a long time.  In fact, I will take a second to street right now that I am glad they're doing the work, and I appreciate all the City workers who are out there in the trenches for all of us.

But I admit, I'm annoyed. Let me explain.

I live very, very close to one of the houses the City decided to tear down. You know, the ones everyone got super mad about.  I don't wanna say too much more about it because sometimes people get very very mad at me in the comments for just even talking about it.  The City came by, tore the place down, and then left the rubble for...about a month.  Then, they came and cleaned it up - kind of.  They left a ton of trash behind and the lot looks terrible because it's still all tracked up.

I understand that's part of the process, and it's temporary. I'm not happy about that because of the huge puddles in the mud.  You know what that means.

via GIPHY

When they came to deal with all that, they put a few paint marks on the sidewalk. Then, nothing. I didn't know why they did that.

Fast forward, and here they are, today, tearing up the sidewalk. My first thought was, "OH NO, what if they're like Columbia?"  I did a little searching, and I found several cities who have ordinances in place about this. They can come and maintain City property anytime they want..... and they can charge you for it after the fact.

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Sedalia is luckily not one of those cities.  The sidewalk and the trees in front of my place are considered City Property, so they have to maintain it and pay for it.  Which is a relief, cos, you know, I don't have thousands of dollars to just plunk out of nowhere.  Heck, I don't even have DOZENS of dollars to plunk out of nowhere.  But I didn't know that - and while I acknowledge I'm an idiot sometimes, I can't be the only one to ask.

So here's my annoyance.  I had about seven questions about what they're doing.

1.  Has someone properly assessed the reason for the sidewalk problem - namely the huge tree root?

2. Will removing the root affect the tree?

3.  When will this be finished?

4. Is there anything a homeowner would need to know about the concrete the City put down?

5.  Is fixing the sidewalk slowing down the cleanup of the mud pit?

And then of course, the previously answered questions about costs.  But here's why I'm annoyed.  The City knew they were coming.  They obviously made plans and planned stuff. They allocated resources, they scheduled workers.  They told probably at least a dozen people they were going to do this, but.... not me? They couldn't have put a little door hanger on my porch?  Sent me a heads up with an FAQ?  Like, "We saw the sidewalk is messed up there, we're gonna come by on blank date, in case of inclement weather, blah blah blah.  We will be done with the work on blank date, here's what you need to know", etc?

I don't know.  What's the problem?  Why can't they do that? I can't be the first person who has had an issue with this. I asked the same thing a while back when it came to tearing down the houses.   Is it a ton more work or something?  I wouldn't think so, because when they come to someone's house, usually that means the homeowner is going to call someone to get questions answered.   And they might be a bit heated when they do so.  Wouldn't you want to cut that off at the pass and pre-answer questions?  Do you just think that we don't care? Or do you think we just don't deserve to know because it's technically City Property?

I just would have appreciated someone telling me they were going to tear down a house close to me.  I would have appreciated someone telling me how long the process would take.  I would have appreciated someone telling me they wanted to do work on the sidewalk near my house.  I would have appreciated the information about dangers.  And the thing is, I can't be the only one.  I just can't.  Not sharing that information with the people it actually affects seems like an oversight.

I don't know, I'm just annoyed.  I don't like surprises.  I have enough going on my dang life, and the City has already peeved a lot of people - including me.   Transparency and thorough communication would go a long way.

Oh, and FIX THE DANG MUD HOLES PLEASE.  That abandoned house made me deal with mice, fleas, skunks, ants and raccoons.  If that house makes me have to deal with skeeter bites I might actually go insane.

Thank you,

Behka