Taking matters into your own hands

[Dawn Longworth]

Mike,
The street has to be closed due to the water in some areas being over a foot and a man hole lid being off its hole.  In addition although the speed limit is only 35 on that street, people go much faster.  Hitting that water at that speed (and believe me I sat down there and watched it) will make a  car hydroplane.  It is a safety issue.  Yes it is inconvienient for us who live here and know the area but Wayne is a heaviliy traveled road for many who are not familiar with the area or the ongoing flooding issue.

The line is a combo line and if there is any flooding or back up in someones house you can contact MSD at 352-4900.

[Valley Cat]

Dawn,

I drove through the water but then I've been doing that for the last year. I don't know who moved the barriers, I'm innocent this time! IMHO, it would be far better to but High Water signs up and allow those who want to drive through. The water never gets high enough to keep a vehicle from passing and it keeps a parade of vehicles off Avalon.

The worse part of the rains was the odor. Hartwell smelled like a sewer yesterday morning. I thought maybe it was just Avalon but Linda said it was that way all over the neighborhood when she was delivering papers.

Mike

[Dawn Longworth]

Wayne is flooded and closed again.  Police have been trying to help with the traffic problems and cars which continue to go around the posted "Road Closed" signs.   Detour signs are posted but large semis continue to select their own routes through our narrow residential streets.  Last night or this morning, one drove through the memorial gardens at Avalon/Wildwood/Woodbine.  Volunteers will fix this as quickly as possible.

[Valley Cat]

Dawn,

Actually, except for having to slow down, the water was never deep enough to cause trouble. Heading north on Wayne was even less dangerous.

Why not ask Officer Berry if it is possible to have a police officer remove the barrier once the water is not gushing. Vine street cannot handle the traffic from both Wayne and its own normal load.

Mike

[Dawn Longworth]

Well I guess all I can say is that the whole situation is really my fault.  I have been the one who has been pressuring MSD and the City to address the flooding and safety problems down there.  I told them they should look into shutting down the street when this happens and I still think that needs to happen BUT next time, there will be less options to go around the detour signs like they did last time.  A barricade will be put up at Hartwell Avenue instead since some idiots chose to ignore all the posted signs last time and Officer Barry is now aware of all the problems this caused and will assist as well.

[Valley Cat]

Dawn,

I can understand it taking some time for the city to get here, but the water was down Tuesday evening. As for giving the city a helping hand, if I see a fire at a neighbor's home or a child hurt on a bicycle, I'm not going to wait until the FD or ambulance gets there to help. Ditto after that massive snow storm a couple years ago - lots of people on Avalon cleaned not only their sidewalks and driveways but also shoveled snow from the road so it was passable. The Valley takes care of its own.

Mike

[Dawn Longworth]

Mike,
I did talk to the City about these problems on Tues morning about 9am when I went to vote and saw the cars going the wrong way & the back up problems.  Transportation & Engineering had to organize a back up plan for incidents when the area overflows on Wayne.  I was concerned because of all the traffic and 2 semis which were stuck with no way to turn around.  At first I was upset with the City, then I drove down Wayne and saw all the warning signs and detour route signs which were placed.  I then drove to the Carthage end of Wayne and saw additional signage as well as a sign on Paddock across from White Castle.  The semi truck SHOULD have turned onto Sheehan or Hartwell Ave in Hartwell where there were signs placed (large ones at that) to warn people the road was closed.  They chose to ignore it and therefore drive lost through our residential streets. 
The street was closed early because it does not take much rain to get that area flooded.  I was happy that they were prepared to address a problem before it caused an accident.  I know it was frustrating, we had a lot of traffic on our street too.  But hopefully with this much attention being paid to the area, the problem will be fixed and it will never be an issue again.

As for people moving the signs, I would have loved to been there when that happened.  I can understand the frustrations of a road closing but no one has a right to just move those signs.  Sure the water had gone down but MSD and the City had a lot to deal with with we get a lot of rain...and I think those guys get to as much done as they can when they can when dealing with City wide problems.  I am not saying they are perfect or there isnt room for improvement but I guess since I talk with those departments I realize there are 52 other neighborhoods than Hartwell, thousands of miles of streets, and countless frustrated citizens who all just want their problems fixed.  THAT is how I keep myself busy all day...calls, meetings, follow ups...and it doesnt just mean from me or any other board member, it needs to be neighborhood wide.  Whats that saying about the squeeky wheel?  It is frustrating but we ARE making progress. 

[Valley Cat]

Apparently, some people got tired of waiting for the city to open Wayne and Avalon up. While moving a roadblock out of the way on Avalon this morning, I noticed someone else moving a couple out of the way on Wayne.

Okay, this is probably against the law but it is ludicrous to block a street for no reason at all. The city didn't get around to removing them until 2:00 this afternoon. Yet at 5:30 yesterday evening, there was absolutely no water pouring out of the manhole. Not to mention, they closed the street way before the rains started.

We had semi-trucks driving down residential streets, people driving the wrong way around the circle churches, DeCamp backed up 200 feet with people trying to get on Vine St. Not to mention Vine was backed up almost to the Mill Creek.

Hartwell is the city's poor step-child and it took a threat of secession to get a street improvement project started, what will it take to keep a major road open? In the meantime, I'll carry boots with me.

Mike