By: Diane Benjamin
h/t A local businessman
If you leave along Clinton in Bloomington and are experiencing flooding problems, blame your City.
See the pics below – note some show well established weeds blocking drainage – not to mention lots of debris.
How about all that hired summer help spend the last half hour every day cleaning drains?
The current condition of the roads and drains is unacceptable, taxpayers deserve better.
The pics are in Alderman Amelia Buragas’s ward – 4
This is EVERYWHERE!!!! Not just on Clinton Street. It is the reason the water comes over the sidewalk in front of my house a the time.
Send pics!
Hey, voice often, why not be a good citizen and rake away the debris on the ones around your neighborhood instead of complaining. It takes thirty seconds.
Maybe we can fix potholes too!
Actually Rob, 15 seconds to rake would be plenty of time. I’m with you (sarcasm here.) Yeah let’s all do the work of the public works guys and we won’t need them. Let’s put some more people out of work. Whoops, back to that 15 seconds to rake. Hit up all the spots in a neighborhood cause I am a good citizen. I rake the leaves away,,,to where Rob? And then they end back up in the street anyway to continue as a problem in the drain again. Maybe I’ll get me a little wagon and tow it around behind my Koos bought bicycle, lol. Anyway point is Rob that the city is slacking big time on infrastructure. Being a helpful citizen is fine and dandy but the the continued lack of infrastructure care by this mayor and this council is the fault of the council, and to cast blame on the citizens is bullshit.
I mostly agree with everything you said here except in the last few years I have not witnessed any public works employee clean these drains so I doubt job security is an issue. My point was to the person whose flood waters were past the sidewalks in their neighborhood. Just saying if that were me I would have utilized my time to clean the problem drains rather than blogging about it.
Yard waste is only picked up every other week. If it’s put on the curb early it washes in the drain again. So what do you do with it? See Monday’s Council meeting – the second speaker during public comment nailed the problem.
As a new Bloomington resident, I’m amazed that the recommended method of disposing of tree branches is to place them in the street- it’s no wonder that the catchbasins are getting plugged.
Actually, the brush is NOT to be put on the street. The brush is to be put on the parkway between the curb and the sidewalk. And, it is to be placed there only in the afternoon of the day recycle is picked up in that neighborhood. The City workers rake the brush and leaves into the street and then put it into a dump truck. That is how it is supposed to be done but usually brush sits on the street because the citizens are not aware of the policy (code?) and the city has done a poor job of informing the public and enforcing its codes.
Ok, I live in a newer neighborhood on the east side and I have to clear the drain in front of my house about once/month. The city doesn’t care, but I sure do!
Ditto. But if others don’t do the same, there still can be flooding in the neighborhood.
We’ve ALWAYS cleaned our drains and STILL get flooding! How about that?? The city is out here about once a month with their vacuum truck, down is some manhole cleaning. But this sewer drain problem is CITY WIDE and NOT just limited to Bloomington. The city “PLANNING” in this town leaves MUCH to be desired-maybe we need MORE consultants? I just WISH they’d fix what is OBVIOUS! But we’ve come to the conclusion that is asking TOO MUCH-as it cannot be done from a desk.
@ Rob,,,point taken and I understand, thank you. However with that being said I would think that keeping drains clear should be a public works responsibility if administration was more active on needs of the city/citizens. This issue is a fair representation of a city in the gutter.
At Monday’s Council meeting they voted to remove “responsibility” and “integrity” from the city’s Values Statement. Now, no one is accountable for anything.
Possibly they moved to remove those terms because they knew that they couldn’t fulfill them. That right there should get those who voted for it ousted in the next election providing they have an opponent.
The council has now decided the city’s deeply held beliefs are “service-centered, results-driven and inclusive.” Maybe that means the citizens are expected to provide their own services.
Any flooded streets in town?
Water came up over the sidewalks on the South side of town but receded shortly after the rain stopped. My rain gauge showed 4 inches of rain fell during the weekend storm. Even with cleared drain grates it would be difficult for that amount of water to flow through the sewers.
it would be nice if the city would be do this, but let’s face it way too many folks are too lazy, I have always cleaned the drain closet to our home, usually when I mow or right before a major snowfall…happy for the
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Our neighbors and us try to keep the drains cleaned.. I don’t think the city has enough workers to keep every drain cleaned in our city.
Or maybe essential services aren’t their priority
Take the debris covering the drains and fill in all the ruts along Clinton Street from Empire to Oakland US150 along that stretch is an abomination. City claims its a state road, state claims its a city road, and there is no USDOT road crew. So it continues to fall apart. At least they painted new crosswalks at Locust and Clinton….