I attended a Historic Landmarks hearing earlier this year re: the new Mississippi Lofts (contentious issue over mass and scale) and walked away with the impression that they received a variance from the city that allowed a sidewalk widening and curb extension in front of their property.
This anomalous feature is regrettable for several reasons: obstructs the street view down Mississippi, creates a bottleneck for bicyclists with cars/busses, is completely unique and out of character with the historic storefront commercial and residential neighborhood aesthetic.
Unfortunate PDOT/BDS/developer complicity...
Developments (meaning developers) should be more carefully regulated by responsible and intelligent city agents- who are hired to act in the public's interest, not to maximize profit potential for builder's who extract neighborhood resources
w/o addition.
We need better design standards, and teeth to enforce them.