California Surveyors Forums

I'm looking for a few high resolution photos of monument destruction for an article I'm writing. This could be remains of the monument after it was destroyed, or the area where the monument was located. If you have anything, please shoot me an e-mail to sunburned.surveyor@gmail.com.

Thanks for your help!

Landon

Sent you a couple

When I first read this thread I thought any photo of asphalt, sans a monument, would be hard to differentiate from any other patch of asphalt.

I then recalled a series of photos taken locally. You see, my sons and I occassionly take the time to inspect newly paved local streets on Sunday mornings. The photos are of monuments set and their subsequent destruction, due to a lack of durability, in Tustin.

Background

The City of Tustin hires PLS 6771 for monument preservation. His chosen durable “monuments” are screws approximately 3” in length having a diameter of a fork tine. I took the “monument” photos with the intent of filing a BPELSG complaint. However, PLS 6771 had a calendared hearing for several allegations of negligence and I believe, incompetence. This time, like others before, I was certain the licensee wouldn’t get the negotiated free pass – alas, the public’s protection would be supreme? Nope. Once again, I am the Wile E. Coyote to the BPELSG Roadrunner (drats!).

The photos show a recently set “monument” as I found it and a subsequently destroyed monument at the next intersection. One additional photo, showing the monument as I found it, is to large to load on the site. I may resize and post it later. As I drag out my ACME complaint filing contraption I can already hear the beep-beep in the distance - I am missing only the parasol to shield me from the explosion.

The surveyor will continue these practices now and forever (beep-beep).

Soft Suggestion

A map showing the annual paving program for any jurisdiction contrasted to the number of corner records filed in the corresponding year would demonstrate the levels of non-compliance, if that is the point. This information is currently being compiled by the Practice Based Chapter headquartered in Orange County. We have found several of the 34 cities in Orange County have filed 0 corner records for monument preservation – as compared to the cities of Anaheim and Huntington Beach which have filed approximately 500 each. Notably, these two cities have City Surveyors.

For what it is worth,

DWoolley

In the attached photo is the "monument" as I found it. This photo was taken within a few months after having been set. Note the rust on the screw - how long would this "monument" have lasted? Think the magnetic locator would pick it up? Think again (beep-beep).

DWoolley

With that kind of pride in his work I have to wonder if his new "mons" are anywhere close to the previous destroyed monument.

And people wonder why I have no use for JPPC or the State Board. All the JPPC does is send threatening $7 postage certified letters to the only person involved that did his job right.

Dave, keep up the work, maybe someday the rules will be followed.

I wish I could send you some pictures of destroyed monuments. Here in San Diego the City totally removes them and there are no remains of anything. It is akin to genocide - maybe we can call it monocide. There is nothing left; no maps or Corner Records or Record of Survey maps. Entire neighborhoods decimated as if the plague came through.

No accountability in govt any more, but they never tire of stealing from the public at gunpoint.

land butcher wrote:No accountability in govt any more, but they never tire of stealing from the public at gunpoint.

This appears to be a case of a private contractor stealing from the public.

see attached files, hate to take thread but I have been reading a lot of posts on how fluted mag nails and
stainless 1.5" diameter washers are poor monuments. I have been walking by these for years in an area
with snow in pavement and they seem to be staying the course.

Tuff to think of a better monument when the original is 0.25' under the paving overlay and we don't want to destroy
the original RR spike.

Brian

On a side note, here in the Bay Area peninsula (and I assume all over the state), unless the monument is in a sleeve and cover, like in the above photo (not sure what is going on there), they are goners. The paving jobs tend to scrape up the old road down to a good base and the railroad spikes or anything else, are disturbed or destroyed. Atherton and Hillsborough have done a swell job of this. If there is good, newer concrete I like to drill the Bernsten BP-series disks as reference marks outside of the road if possible. I don't trust streets for any type of surface control if I expect to find them in 5-10 years down the road.

I seem to constantly go to jobs from a few years ago and not have street control. I think if someone were to look at my notes 50 years from now they will be entertained by my constant references to control from a job being noted as destroyed in notes just a year or two later. I wonder how "those other guys" work when I see dinky mini-mag nails used for control in an older road and 2 years later they are called in to stake off them if the road was repaved.

If you live where the road gets 10,000 cars a day or more
nails do not hold up well. In rural areas where we get 100 cars a day
a nail can last for 50 years. Big difference on where you live I guess.

Down here a min of 4 ties are required mostly in the top of curb. Unfortunately 1000's of these have been destroyed for HC ramps. Some are reset only to be destroyed when they remove the old standard ramp and replace it with the new standard ramp at ~$10k/ramp.

I have found a number of well mons were the lid is rusted in place.

I here you Butcher, but things are getting better, I remember dreading
street monuments, seems like the State and Local agencies felt free to cover
them with 0.4' of AC. We would beat our hands bloody,then the lid, then it would be full of grime and water.

BEPELGS before and after construction mandate for CR's is a good thing.

Brian

The Pics above are of a Street Monument of no record I was able to tie this out before
the construction, the lid never did come off that well monument, froze on tight and nut
broke. NOTHING IS PERMANENT.