Aug
29
Unrest in the provinces
August 29, 2005 |
With billions of dollars being poured into much needed Downtown redevelopment, people in the outlying areas of the city are becoming restless and asking when will the development bonanza make it to their neighborhood. Besides the dead malls, crumbling 1950s tract houses, and streets without curbs or gutters, there are still many houses with septic tanks instead of city sewers! Most are in the Ruskin/Hickman Mills areas and the older part of the Northland, south of Vivian Road. Both areas were originally developed just after WWII on unincorporated land without sewers or other city services.
However, those spiffy city sewers aren’t all that. Even posh Brookside has to deal with the occasional puddles of sewage in the streets and basements. Hopefully the recently-approved $250 million sewer bonds will begin to correct these problems in all areas of the city. Look for basic service issues like this one to command more attention in the 2007 mayoral and council races.
KC Star: South KC residents air their grievances
KMBC-TV 9: EPA Checks out sewer problems in Brookside
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There are over two thousand downspouts on homes in Brookside that dump water into the sewer and help with the problem of sewer back up and displacing the rat homes in the sewers. Doesn’t the lady from 9 live in Brookside? What about the rats that headed east and west when the buildings downtown were torn down.
What about the promises to the neighborhoods to fix the curbs sidewalks and catchbasins. What about the bond elections and the promises to fix the infrastructure?
[…] After the budget cuts and layoffs of the last few years, the city might finally be back to fiscal health. City Manager Wayne Cauthen has submitted a budget to the City Council that might also appease the folks clamoring for attention to the neighborhoods after several years of much-needed focus on Downtown. […]