Common Ground

Taxes, Politics And A Big Hole In The Ground

Posted by Steve Bukosky on Dec. 15, 2009

Politics-Local

Last night a meeting was made at the parks department which escaped my attention. It was regarding the flooding situation in the Grandview Park area. The proposal was to build a water retention pond on the south side of the park which would capture excess water that has been flooding basements and intersections in the area for many years.

The original plan would have eliminated one of the two baseball diamonds, been dug down to hold the necessary quantity of water which would slowly drain back into the storm sewer system and have fencing and landscaping around it for safety and appearance.

Based on the one report that I have heard, the parks department does not want to lose a baseball diamond and neither do some residents. Would it be safe to say that they don't have a basement flooding problem during large storms?

I understand that a compromise was made which will keep the diamond and provide additional parking for cars which clog up Pine Street during games and frequently ignore No Parking areas. It sounds like the southern baseball diamond will be at the bottom of an eight foot deep hole! That should be interesting! The only areas that I know of available for off street parking is land that is owned by WE Energies.

The retention pond is a necessary expense to protect property in the area. Besides flooded basements, I have seen cars parked in the street actually float away during flash flooding that has happened. The parking lot and baseball diamond compromise is questionable and came at a bad time. I received my property tax bill in the mail this week and it is bigger than ever while the economy and income is bad.

I hope to have more facts detailing what is going on if the local media doesn't.