Unofficial Traffic Circle

This past holiday season brought little snow, except for a lovely white Christmas, but Armour Hills residents were their usual festive selves. To mark the occasion, as well as the City's break, a few neighbors decorated the cones alerting drivers on Edgevale Road and 68th Terrace of an unfinished man hole restoration project.

Just in case the City did forget, I have been calling regularly to ensure this squeaky wheel gets some grease. I hope the crew that comes to complete the job feels the holiday spirit. Let's just hope they make it before the Epiphany! Until then, let us all enjoy or lovely impromptu traffic circle...

 

Fall Water Leak

For the past summer there has been a small water leak down the street from where I live. I have called it in several times to 311, but alas, nothing has been done. When I called it in again today the 311 operator told me that there is a work order out on this leak, but that it is a "cold" case. A "Cold" case is one of least importance.

The unusually hot summer has lead to some serious upheaval all over the City, and the old and worn pipes under our great City have been bursting all over. Just this morning a larger main break occurred on Main Street at Arbor Villa Park. Fearful that this would surely create a disaster for the Armour Hills Ice Cream Social tonight, I called that one in and they crew is already here working on it.

Priorities are a tricky matter in a bureaucracy.

Wornall Road Plates

The other day the Water Department closed down Wornall Road just outside of Southwest High School to perform maintenance on a major water main line. They had to close down one of the south bound lanes after they placed three steel plates over the unfinished work site.

About a week after the road closure the plates began to shift with the heavy traffic on Wornall. Once I noticed that people had to veer into oncoming traffic to avoid the hole in the street I called 311. A day later a crew came out to remove the dangerous situation. They finished the job right before school started on Monday, August 15, 2011. I think they needed the extra lanes in order to allow school buses to line up outside...

Main Street Plates

For the past two months the City's Water Department has left to large steel plates on Main Street at 68th Terrace. I have seen people swerve to miss them driving in both directions and almost  not make the swerve back into the lane. It is almost like we have a new speed bump for Arbor Villa Park.

While the water main that is under those plates is now fixed, we are still waiting for the second crew that is responsbile to come by and finish the job. While it might be too hot to lay asphalt now, it certainly was not two, three, four, five and/or six weeks ago.

Finally, after three months of wrangling with 311, Councilwoman Marcason's office, and the Water Department, the plates were removed yesterday, the road resurfaced, and our primary corridor returned to normal, for now...

69th Terrace Spring

Yet another water main broke on 69th Terrace just east of Brookside Road. A steady stream of water was flowing into the stormwater drain. Around the source of the water it appeared as though someone from the KCMO Water Department had been there and marked the street already.

I called in the break, and within a week a crew had come to fix the problem. As occassionally happens there was a delay between the first crew that fixes the leak, and the second crew that finishes the job. The gravel pit that remained blocked a private driveway, and I called 311 again to file a complaint.

It took another week or so, but shortly thereafter the final crew cam out to wrap it up.

Spring Water Leaks



When the cold earth finally begins to thaw in Kansas City, it expands, and for the City's old water pipes, that mean leaks. Lots of them. It is the same story every Fall when the warm soil begins to contract and the ground shifts ever so slightly.

Moving from Los Angeles where water is a precious resource and nearly 60% of it is brought in from outside the region via aqueducts (thank you Colorado River, Owens River Valley, and Northern California), I have a real problem seeing water being waster. Not only is it a waste of money and energy, but a waste of our most precious resource.

As I walked to my part-time volunteer job down Main Street to the Children's Place, I spotted a few water leaks. One of them close to the early childhood charity has already been repaired, the other has been marked by the Water Department, but nothing has been done yet...



Water Main Repair

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?