Last night, the person whose car was beginning to fall into the hole (front
passenger-side tire was in it already) found a towing company who said
they could pull her out -- even though she was blocked in front and back with
other cars. It took them a while but they did it -- with a roll-off truck,
not a lift-type rig.
This mid-morning, the rest of the cars parked along the east curb were
gone. I don't know whether the city towed them out of there or if the owners
came and got them -- and, if the latter, had they been notified or was it
just serendipity.
A lone worker from the Water Dept came, and stood there scratching his
head. One of my guys talked to him. He said he'd been sent out to remove an old
lateral -- that old, disconnected sewer connection that was probably a
holdover from the pre-1916 Convent that had been on the land between 44 &
43rd, Spruce & Pine. But he said nobody told him the street was caving in and
they needed a special team to do the work, so he left without doing anything.
With all the cars gone, my guys rounded up a few more orange traffic cones
and put them along the whole stretch with some plastic tape. We also put up
some signs telling people not to park there because of the imminent danger
of roadway collapse.
This still leaves the cave and tunnel that do under the main part of the
roadway as real hazards. A heavy truck might crash through. In my humble
opinion, they should barricade 44th Street going south at Spruce and put up
some detour signs.
And, of course, nothing's been done by way of actually beginning to correct
the problem.
Also, we've talked to the inspectors and they really don't know what caused
all the underground erosion -- is it new or old, is it a leaky storm drain
or water main, etc.
Al Krigman
