About two weeks before the first frost and one of Kansas City's most powerful winters in recent history, I called the City to fix a broken water line. This problem had happened to my block before and instead of fixing it, we had to live with a dangerous half block ice sheet throughout an entire winter. When the City came to fix the problem and chipped away the ice thus damaging our curbs and gutters, not to many of us were very happy.
Charging ahead with a quick fix, the Water Department's emergency crew came out and fixed the problem within days of calling 311 and Councilwoman Jan Marcason's office. Sure, they didn't actually finish replacing the concrete curbs and asphalt street until the Spring, but at least they prevented the infamous 66th Street ice shelf.
While my neighbors and I had to live through a winter with a bumpy road, in the end, we were all happy. The previous summer a huge sewer line break that runs along our back yards left a path of destruction as our driveways became the crews access points. Leaving a broken driveway apron behind, this little water main break actually fixed both. Who said you can't kill two birds with one stone at the City?
