Dear Action Line The alley between East Fourth and Fifth avenues, and East Eighth and Ninth streets, was recently paved in a fine and dandy fashion, with elegant brickwork and classy looking grates. I feel very satisfied when I walk or bike down this fancy new alley. The hardworking people who fashioned this creation deserve kudos. However, there are questions that need answering. Just two years ago the alley one block to the west, which had major drainage issues, was paved and included regular old pavement. I reside along this alley and it was well-needed. There are still many dirt road alleys on the grid – are they all going to be paved over eventually? With each successive paving, will the renovations become more opulent and aesthetically pleasing? Are we to expect a golden-bricked alley encased in Plexiglas coating? Did the latest city budget have a little extra money to make the alley look a bit nicer? Is it cheaper to do brickwork than pavement? Was there a more affluent resident who lives along said alley who kicked in some extra scratch? So many questions. Help me.
Sincerely,
McAlleycat Malkmus
Dear McAlleycat,
Ah, “Gucci Alley.” That’s not a name I came up with, but it’s what folks living near the alley actually call it. That splendiferous alley was built not just for looks, but for drainage. As I pussyfooted about that block, I ran into a resident who filled me in. Apparently, there is no slope between Eighth and Ninth streets there, so regular paving of what had been a dirt alley would have just shed water onto the properties along it. So the city dug up the alley and put in a sort-of French drain underneath that runs to Eighth Street. You’ll notice that the bricks/pavers are not grouted, but set in a porous bed that allows water to run between them into the subdrain and into the storm pipe on Eighth Street. If you look down the storm drain on that end of the alley the next time it’s raining cats and dogs, you’ll see water running underneath – the helpful local showed me a video!
Apparently, it was a pilot project that is working quite well but was also quite expensive, so might not get repeated unless absolutely necessary (I think I know the alley behind your house and there was enough grade there that a V-shaped depression lengthwise down the middle did the trick). And no, adjacent residents didn’t have to kick in extra.
I couldn’t help but notice, McAlleycat, that you share a surname with the frontman for the band Pavement, Stephen Malkmus. You now can be sure that the next time there’s a Slanted Rain, you won’t be Rattled by the Rush of water or a Debris Slide in the Shady Lane protected by the project. I actually prefer your namesake’s work with The Jicks, though – “Real Emotional Trash” is a masterpiece.
The DurangoDowntown.org website was advertising an event called the “Kris Kringle Karaoke.” We reached out to them about the acronym being KKK and they changed the name to “Singing with Santa.” It even appears as though they’ve rebranded the event and created a new website for it.
Sincerely, Aunti Fa
Dear Aunti,
I reached out to Tim Walsworth with the Business Improvement District, which hosts that website. He explained it’s been called “Singing with Santa” for decades, and that the “Kris Kringle Karaoke” headline was just an attempt at some alliterative fun, without noticing, and certainly not intending, a reference to the KKK. Indeed that photo you sent refers to the Singing with Santa event underneath the headline. So the name was not changed, the heading for it just contained an unintended and unfortunate acronym that could be gleaned from the headline for the Singing with Santa event.
I understand your worry, as Durango has a past with the Ku Klux Klan, which was active here in the early part of the last century. I know I’ve worried about the KKK acronym when I’ve seen it in places one wouldn’t expect – I remember when first watching baseball games where fans held up rows of “K”s, sometimes backward, when an ace pitcher was on the mound and fans were counting strikeouts, which are indicated by “K”s. I thought maybe the backward “K”s were to avoid that wretched acronym. Turns out a backward “K” just means the batter was “struck out looking,” failing to swing at a final strike pitch.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Today’s Fun Fact: Rectangular brick pavers like used in this project are called “setts,” which are not “cobblestones” as they are sometimes called. Cobblestones are round river rocks, and while had been used in olden days, they are rarely used for building streets today.
