Monday, June 8, 2009

Success! Winthrop Hole Now Whole

Well, it may not be pretty, but it looks safe for the first time in a long time. This sewer hole on the 4700 block of Winthrop was a hazard for years.

A reader wrote in April: "A small person or a child can go underneath the sewer and travel horizontally at least 20’. I have called 311 for 3 years, filled up the hole as best as possible but it’s out of control.... I have called Shiller’s office 2 times and they immediately put new cones up, but no work has been done ever. All the water from the parking lot flows into the hole rather than the sewer so the hole gets bigger and bigger."

This is how it looks today. Thanks to everyone who made calls to bring it to the city's attention and who contributed to its finally being secured.

7 comments:

  1. I am glad its fixed. When it comes to bringing more taxes they move very fast but when it comes to the use of those taxes on services we need done they move like snails.

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  2. Actually,
    Swers didn't have notice of this one until it got posted on UU.

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  3. I bet that amateurish-looking fix won't last nearly as long as the 3 years that the hole went un-fixed. Good work Helen!

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  4. I don't think this was Helen's doing. At this point, I'm just glad that it's safe for kids and pets. 20 feet worth of sand to fill it won't last forever, I'll grant you that, but it's a far better situation than it was a couple weeks ago.

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  5. Just an observation (and a hope) but sometimes when a subterranean project is going to take an extended period of time they will fill the hole with a substance that's easy to remove in a few weeks or months. They did this outside our house on a street project that had temporary filler for 2 months before they returned and completed it. Maybe waiting for money, custom-machined parts, etc. Who knows.

    If that isn't the case, and this project really is finished, I would be somewhat miffed at this poor treatment of the landscape.

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  6. "I bet that amateurish-looking fix won't last nearly as long as the 3 years that the hole went un-fixed. Good work Helen!"

    There was a lot of work done to this sewer structure. Several hundred brick were replaced. Several Pipes were also replaced. Sand is what was used to fill the space between the sewer structure and the surrounding ground. It was mounded up because it will settle a bit over the next couple of weeks.(It was difficult to compact the ground due to the abundance of tree roots growing around the sewer. At that point the ground will be topped off with dirt and grass seed. So you see what you casually (and ignorantly) call an amateurish fix, is really quite a professional job after all, that should provide many years of continued service.

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  7. I'm the one who posted this (Stu Piddy) on the sewer...they did replace the bricks and pipes and dug out all the sludge.

    I talked to one of the men on the site and he said..."this one made it one the internet!", Uptown Update!"....I thought it was funny he knew it was on the internet.

    They said a pipe had collapsed...so I think the sand is filler and meant to settle in as average guy said....

    I had a friend who got stepped out of his car and fell one all the way up to his crotch on one leg..that's when I started filling in the hole and keeping the sewer next to it open...

    I'm glad it's done...

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