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Safety Harbor City Commissioners and staff are to be commended for a mid-course change in the rebuilding of an historic downtown brick street, but must be chided for needing a chorus of citizen outcries to get them back on track and re-incorporate granite curbs and original brick in the rebuilding of brick streets. Inexperience and a lack of longevity in office do not excuse both staff and elected officials from a surprising insensitivity to the community’s concern for its heritage and the elements that contribute to its much-prized “quaintness.” There is a huge difference between something that is authentic and a similar-appearing replica, no matter how well-crafted the replica may be. Furthermore, it is offensive to suggest that hundred-year-old ballast bricks are “worn-out” and that hand-cut granite curbs are “awful looking.”

Fourth Avenue North undoubtedly is in greater need of repair and rebuilding than any other street in Safety Harbor’s downtown. The primary cause of its decline has long been attributed to the collapse of an old, unused sanitary sewer line made of clay tiles. Although heavy traffic as on Safety Harbor’s Main Street can cause potholes to develop, brick streets generally have proven themselves to be stable and very cost effective in the long-term. Even if bricks shift, the effect is far less obnoxious and more effective than installing rubber or asphalt bumps on every block to discourage speeding. Furthermore, one doesn’t have to have an engineering degree to understand the simple geometry of a well-constructed brick street. The bricks should be installed on a packed sand base with a notable center crown, which both encourages rain water to flow toward the curb and helps distribute the weight of vehicles to transfer force to the curb. Critical in this construction is the CURB! The genius of these nearly hundred-year-old streets is in the slabs of granite — hand hewn from a quarry on Georgia’s Stone Mountain. More than half the depth of the heavy slabs is buried below the surface. The brick surface meets them halfway, like the crossbar on a goal post, and the curb prevents the bricks from shifting. Take away the curb and the bricks lose their anchor. A machine-poured concrete curb may appear more even at first, but it is doubtful it has the strength to hold bricks in place for a hundred years.

Most importantly, Safety Harbor residents have stated emphatically and repeatedly that they want all of the city’s brick streets retained and maintained. The city conducted studies and more than a decade ago laid out a plan to rebuild all the brick streets. The plan was essential to winning federal funds that helped pay for some of the early restoration efforts. The plan should be well known to city staff. In the first years of brick street rebuilding, the city nearly had to beg contractors to submit bids. This year 17 firms eagerly submitted bids. Even the highest bid was 10% under the estimated cost. The disturbing question is whether the bids were so good not only because of the economy, but because contractors understood the value of what the city was giving away when it said they could keep the old bricks.