In February I called attention to a segment of channel 2’s “You Paid for it” to talk about the political process in the city’s 4th ward (see post). Alderman OL Shelton was not interested in finishing a development started by his predessesor that he replaced in a special election after she was recalled. Last month, during the regular primary, residents of the ward gave Shelton his walking papers by electing Sam Moore to the seat. Moore will be sworn in later this month. He will have his job cut out for him, especially at Ville Phillips Estates.
A sign promoting the development is now part of the debris scattered across some of the lots.
At the corner of Whittier and Garfield, at the SE corner of the development, water is not making it to the inlet just to the left. New homes were to face Whitter but neither the homes nor the sidewalks have been constructed.
Here is the same corner as much of the debris, Whittier & North Market. The curbing hasn’t been finished nor has the sidewalk.
Something as simply as filling in dirt between the curb and sidewalk has not been completed. Worse yet is the hole you see above.
Yes, a completely open man hole just waiting for someone to fall in or out of curiosity enter the underground system. Either way this is a safety hazard that should not be left open by the developers.
Not dangerous like the open drainage hole but just as interesting is the new alley that didn’t quite make it to North Market St. The odd part is how low it is relative to the sidewalk and street.
From this angle you can see how the area was excavated to get the alley this low.
Another view, looking south from North Market toward Garfield. The alley connects to Garfield on the opposite side, just not here at North Market.
At the West end of the block the alley again stops short, although this time it is a reasonable height relative to the grade. The fenced in area is behind the one old house on the block that has not been razed, this area was used to store construction materials & equipment but was left in a mess.
Basically the alley T’s at both ends. Here we see the old power lines running through the alley. Owners understood these would be removed and replaced underground but that never happened. The alley used to continue all the way to Whittier (behind me in this image) and the power lines still run through what would be someone’s building lot. I’m assuming the developers ran out of money to finish relocating all the utilities.
When you don’t relocate the power poles you end up with smart solutions such as this — a pole in the middle of your long driveway. I personally don’t get the whole driveway & attached garage thing anyway. Give me a good detached garage so that I can have a decent sized backyard.
Other areas around the block include missing sidewalks, the section along Whittier mentioned earlier and a section along Garfield near Annie Malone and then adjacent to the one existing house on the block. If we as a city are going to commit public funds to start a project such as this we need to make sure it gets finished, regardless of a change of aldermen. We also need to make sure improvements such as public sidewalks get done before the developer gets paid.
