Street Reconstruction Part 7

Working Hard?

Or hardly working?

Really, though, I think they have been working hard.  Everyone gets a break now and again.  Oh, and they were parked, not driving along like that.

Street Reconstruction Part 6

Since my last post they had continued up the middle of the street then started replacing sewer lines to the houses.  they seemed to do a few randomly on the street first, though there must have been some reason, including our new neighbor's to the right.  Now, they seem to be moving up the street in order.  We got a knock on the door early this morning, they were about to start on ours and yes, we both needed to get our vehicles out first.

By the time I got home, ours and neighbor Jane's were done and they were starting on the next neighbor up the street on this side.  So, today is the third day without driveway access.  Like the first day, I got kind of lucky with a parking spot not far away down the bike path.  My wife, meanwhile, had to park way up the street and around the corner when she got home this afternoon.

And below is our view out front after I got home.  The last couple days before today have been extremely hot so the workers knocked off early, but otherwise there hasn't been time lost due to weather.  Maybe one rain day, I can't remember for sure.  We've had no interruption of services, including sewer today, except for losing water for a short time when they broke that pipe accidentally, same day but after I posted last.

Other than the construction, life goes on.  There's been nothing really notable happen that I wish to discuss here.  I got the call about the beef yesterday but they're okay with me picking it up this weekend, as expected.  Coming up is a three day weekend for Labor Day on Monday, then after the short work week I'm finally on vacation for a week.  One of the first things to do is take a trip to see my Mom, then I have a list of things to keep me busy with my time, including cleaning out the garage and cleaning up my basement workbench.  I badly need the time off, and they both badly need the attention.

Street Reconstruction Part 5*

We got a knock on the door early this morning.  They were going to start digging on our street and weren't sure if we'd have driveway access this afternoon, but surely not tomorrow.  More notice would have been nice, but we could manage this.  My wife doesn't need her van out until Wednesday, and told them so, and I ended up parked a street over this afternoon.  I got lucky with a spot pretty much around the corner, but it could be much further next time.

Neighbor Cindy, the one I call "Princess," apparently didn't answer her door this morning, then early this afternoon came out and told the workers she had to get her car out.  She always acts so uppity and entitled, thus my nickname for her.  Anyway, the workers accommodated her by moving a few pieces of equipment but she still had to drive over her front lawn to get out.  I was at work, this was relayed by my wife.  We'll be texting again tomorrow afternoon to see if I can get to the driveway then.

When the beef is ready I think we should have driveway access as even if they called tomorrow they understand their customers have jobs and other things to do so I'll pick it up on the weekend, and construction crews normally wrap things up pretty good for the weekends.  We were planning to get a grocery order for tomorrow afternoon but now will wait until later in the week.

I just went out for a look before posting this, and this (below) would appear to be the last section of pipe they'll be installing today.  

I'm not sure how late they'll work tonight or how they'll wrap things up for the day, but there may be another update very soon.

*Update after the break.

Street Reconstruction Part 4 & Sunflower Update

Yesterday we noticed that they were clearing our street somewhat, and today they had removed the top layer of asphalt.  This is our view out the front door:

Most of the real work has been on the next street over.  They started by removing that street surface and I've seen then digging in the middle of the street when going to work in the mornings.  They've usually been done with the digging by the time I get home, to leave no holes overnight for safety reasons, I imagine.  So with them starting to remove the surface of our road today I would guess they'll be starting on the sewer work under the middle of the street here soon.

We don't know when we won't have driveway access so have been stocking up on groceries and paper goods recently.  We also ordered another split half of beef and I really hope we have driveway access when that's ready.  I imagine we'll mostly not have driveway access when they are working on the terraces, curbs and driveway aprons toward the end but before putting down the last layer of the new street surface, but that's just me surmising.  I do hope we get some kind of notice, though.

Here's a look up the street, below.  I didn't venture far for pictures today but this gives you an idea of what I see.

I'll try to get better about updates, but much of the work for the day is getting done by the time I get home, and most of the actual changes so far are underground. 

Sunflower drama after the break:

Street Reconstruction Part 3 1/2

A look up the roads of our horseshoe where the work is to be done.  The street by the creek isn't getting done, but links the two that are and provides storage.  It's also part of the bike path that has been detoured though is still used.

Street Reconstruction Part 3 And More

Work has begun on the next street over while our street has become the storage for that work, with piles of dirt, sand and gravel with storage trailers and equipment along the whole block.  Not a whole lot to report yet, but for the sound of machines every day and one rough lane to get in and out of the neighborhood.  And it's a long time until November.

Meanwhile in the gardens, the garlic was ready so was pulled a few days ago and my wife is cleaning them up now.  The two jalapeno plants have more peppers than we know what to do with.  The raspberry bushes are done and we got about a pint again this year.  Next spring we will try removing the fence to let them spill out.  The basil and sage in with the mostly gone strawberry plants are doing better now that they're not drowning with all the rain we had.  And the sunflowers are still growing, looking like wet dishrags per usual due to our very high heat and humidity currently.

And the wildflowers growing out of the old stump are coming into their own quite well, well enough we discussed doing it again next year.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.  We'll be hiding mostly indoors in the air conditioning.

Street Reconstruction Part 2

And it begins...  or is about to begin, anyway.  (See first post from April here.)

Signs were put up yesterday on the whole block.  No street parking between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. except on Sundays, starting this Wednesday and going through November 15.  So, instead of the two months indicated during the planning stage it appears the work will take up to four months.  I can only hope that it's doubled because they will do one block at a time and starting with ours, so our street will mostly be completed in 2 months.  Stay tuned, we'll find out.

And, knowing full well of the upcoming work, a crew came through about a week and a half ago to do some spot patching on the street.  Despite this being a complete waste of time and money, they even ignored the bigger potholes for smaller, inconsequential patches like this one in front of our driveway. 

This work, which will remove half of the parking on both our street and the next street over, seems to fall in line with the new Bus Rapid Transit System that has been being built in the city for more than a year now.  When finished, there will be a dedicated bus lane on those busy thoroughfares, meaning one less lane for regular traffic.  It seems obvious the city is trying to make its citizens get rid of our cars and use their public transit.  Perhaps a nice, green idea, but good luck trying to get people away from their cars.  I just don't see it happening.

Street Reconstruction

I believe I mentioned that our street is due to be reconstructed this year, and that I had some issues with their plans.  For the first time, I spoke to the City Council during their meeting tonight on this agenda item.  The meeting started at 6:30 pm, and I just got to speak about 9:30 pm.  I had 3 minutes to get my point across.  I was told my 3 minutes were up right before I said thank you at the end.  Pretty good timing, I'd say.

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Good evening.

My wife and I are residents of Xxxxxx Street since 2009 and I wanted to speak tonight because while we agree this part of the street needs reconstruction, some of the data used for planning appears inaccurate and other factors not considered at all.

The data that notes this block of Xxxxxx Street averages 6 vehicles parked overnight and 5 during the day is highly inaccurate.  Since we saw that, my wife and I have been counting at various times of day and found that on weekdays we average 13 vehicles parked on the street overnight and 8 during the day.  These numbers increase significantly on the weekends to 12-15 vehicles parked on the street at any given time.

Per the Parking Exhibit PDF on the city website, Xxxxxx Street is due to have parking on only the north side with just 17 parking spots available.  This is also inaccurate as 3 vehicles will not reasonably fit between any two driveways, and keep in mind that city ordinance requires no parking within 4 feet of a driveway and 2 feet between cars.  This means only 15 parking spots, which is pretty close to 1 spot for every 2 houses on the block.

It’s a pretty long block, so this is problematic for several reasons:

    1. In 2019 you built a canoe slide at the end of our street and it gets used, mostly on weekends, and they arrive in vehicles that need to park somewhere.

    2. For years now on Saturdays a house near the creek is a pickup site for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes.  So there are many people coming and going, all needing somewhere to park.

    3. Work vehicles for necessary house repairs and maintenance also need to be able to park near the residence where the work is to be done.

    4. But lastly, and I think most importantly, we don’t have reasonable nearby options for parking.

        A. Xxxxxx Street residents already sometimes use our street for overnight overflow parking.

        B. There is no parking on Xxxxxx Avenue.

        C. Xxxxxx Street will likely have the same issues we will because they are due to get even less parking than Xxxxxx Street with this project.

        D. And Xxxxxx Street is hundreds of feet away for most of the houses on this block, and they have their own residents who park there.

Please listen to these concerns and reconsider these plans for a more reasonable and flexible parking solution for our neighborhood.  We love living here and would like to continue to be able to host friends and family now and again - and be able to park close to our home when it’s necessary to park on the street.

Thank you.

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Good night.