Well, yesterday afternoon was FUN.

Should be to Tell City by now.

Yesterday there was wind and rain event with a quasi-Biblical six-hour power outage at the homestead. Having neglected to charge my phone, I sat instead on the front porch with cigar in hand and dead communications hunk in my pocket, watching the spectacle unfold.

First came a pleasant view of various roofing parts flapping in the breeze like resistance battle flags. In this instance they were resisting being nailed down. It may be time to do something about this.

Next I observed the city's "Your Speed" digital display sign, recently erected in our front yard as a helpful reminder that Team Gahan really is capable of humor on widely scattered occasions, registering speeds of 7, 8 and 9 mph on cars driving as fast as always through a driving rain, most without headlights on.

Fire trucks came past, and half these speeding lampless vehicles refused to yield. 

But the most bizarre occurrence of all came at the very height of the downpour, around 5:30 p.m. It requires a brief explanation.

The owners of the house two doors down to the east moved away a year or so ago, and have been renting the place as an Airbnb. We've no objections to this, except I've noticed a tendency during the winter months for trash and leaves to pile up along the retaining wall by the sidewalk. There's been a healthy pile of debris reposing there for a while.

Yesterday as sheets of rain were coming down, from nowhere there emerged a drenched little man wearing a purple Lanesville Heritage Weekend t-shirt and brandishing a broom. He began sweeping the piles of trash across the sidewalk, into the two-feet-wide channel of stormwater runoff at the curb, then watching contentedly as cups, fast food bags and cigarette butts floated merrily toward the drain further down by the funeral home.

Surreal, indeed. Imagine spending the past two months thinking to yourself, "if only we'd have a huge wind and thunder storm so I can go out, get soaked -- and sweep."

Only in New Albany.

Within twenty minutes of this scene, the sun was out and a colossal rainbow appeared to the southeast. Eventually we went to Pints&union to recharge our phones and have a couple of pints, and near the end of number two, the automated Duke Outage voice informed me the electricity was back on.

We arrived home to the overwhelming smell of pork ribs baking; there'd been so much happening that I completely to remove them from the oven when the power went off.

What can a poor boy do, 'cept have another beer?

Wheel of Sodden at the Saturation Army -- or another heavy rain, another plan to alleviate self-inflicted stormwater tsunamis.

Extra, extra -- read all about it.



The best cure of all would have been pre-emptive; no clearcutting, no Summit Springs. But in American capitalism, and in the way American governance attaches itself like a leech to American capitalism, as opposed to American people ... a few inches of water every time it rains is a small price to pay for someone else's profits.

Project to help alleviate stormwater flooding issues in New Albany, by Chris Morris (Tom May Anthology)

NEW ALBANY — Southern Indiana has been inundated with rain this year, and New Albany has not escaped Mother Nature's wrath.

On Monday, the city picked up three additional inches, but according to Chris Gardner, stormwater director, there were no major problems and no roads had to be closed due to high water or flash flooding.

"We had minimal issues," Gardner told the New Albany Board of Public Works & Safety on Tuesday. "We were fortunate we didn't have any major issues. I think a lot of that can be attributed to the improvements we have made in the last eight years."

Another improvement — the State Street/Green Valley Road Detention Project — coming in the next few months should help stormwater runoff in the State Street area and nearby on nearby Martin Drive.

Work to install a pipe under State Street, near the south end of Wesley Commons, will begin Monday. The pipe will eventually replace a 107-acre watershed in the area and will redirect water into a detention basin that will be constructed in the rear of the Salvation Army on Green Valley Road. Work is expected to be completed this year. An exact schedule and more details of the project are expected to be released soon, Gardner said.

Technically, Chick-fil-A was correctly using sandbags in a vain effort to deter Summit Springs stormwater runoff.

The preceding screenshots are from videos posted to Facebook on Saturday evening, depicting run-off from the Summit Springs project.

They speak for themselves, and I've nothing to add.

Background can be found here and here.

Confused but cash-infused, Deaf Gahan mistakes Summit Springs water runoff for campaign donations and says, "Keep it pourin', boys."

“I think a lot of people, when you start making those kinds of adjustments and changes to our landscape, I think people should be concerned. And we’re concerned.”
-- technically, trademark gibberish from Jeff Gahan

He could never lie very convincingly, but as the untreated personality disorder advances, expect the vowel movements to increase in intensity.

Mayor: Despite water runoff, Summit Springs developers are in compliance, by Danielle Grady (Tom May Picayune)

NEW ALBANY — The video, posted to Facebook one month ago, showed a rush of brown water spilling over a wall and down the newly built Daisy Summit Road during a particularly bad storm.

Commenters were not surprised: “Figured that would happen,” said Missi Mathes-Wiseman.

Nearby residents see the video as proof that the Summit Springs development, under construction on a hill that towers next to State Street, isn’t a good idea. But the city, which approved erosion prevention and drainage plans for the project that met and, in some cases, exceed New Albany’s standards, says that’s not the case.

The Summit Springs hill is at risk of erosion and slope failures, according to a 2006 geotechnical report, which studied a previous iteration of the project. But the report also found that the hill should be fine as long as the developers, Summit Springs, LLC, follow certain recommendations.

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan assures that the developers are taking proper measures. Before Thursday, he hadn’t seen the Facebook video, which has since accumulated 17,000 views and 153 shares since being posted. But he did view a similar one filmed more recently, which showed a less extreme version of what happened a month ago. It was right to spark concern with the average viewer, he thought.

“But technically," he said, “[The developers are] doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and I feel good about the development, and when it’s all said and done, I think people will be very proud of it.”

As the mayor fantasizes, catch up on the story via these links.

Let's talk about the 8% and their affordable slots in the 14-story luxury middle finger high atop Summit Springs.

Illicit Summit Springs Phase Two work, redux: Can't Team Gahan's lickspittles get their damn stories straight?

Scott Wood and Shane Gibson predictably duck the reporter, leaving deputy mayor Mike Hall to explain ceasing, desisting, and illicit Summit Springs Phase Two work.

Did the developer of Phase 2 at the Summit Springs Luxury Mudslide Strip Mine Fun Park violate a cease and desist order yesterday?

A 2016 reprise: "High atop Summit Springs with friends (and relatives) in low places."

They're in it for the money: Team Gahan and its Plan Commission's cowardly and abject capitulation to the Kelleys and their Summit Springs development atrocity continues tonight.

Plan Commission to consider phase two of the Summit Springs Kelley Enrichment cluster muck development atrocity.

ON THE AVENUES: Taco Bell has as much to do with "local business" as Jeff Gahan does with "quality urban design principles."

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Hill or valley? mural or statue? Bison or weasel? Evidently Team Gahan needs reinforcements.

It wasn't about drainage at all. Rather, an irrational fear of density doomed the West Street Mews.

The single most hilarious aspect of Coffey's resistance is the juxtaposition of these two statements, both coming from the Wizard's mouth.

"I don't think it’s the government’s responsibility to make sure people profit."

"You have to have green space for people. You have to, it’s a healthy [necessity] for people."

Or, while it isn't Coffey's job to make money for a developer -- not receiving some from one in particular might be the root of the problem in this instance -- it's very much his job to decide how much green space is healthy.

Many persons residing in major cities, or even some renting at Break Water, likely have a different view of green space versus density. Maybe it's why they decided to live in a 190-unit apartment complex as opposed to a ranch house in Georgetown.

When I asked my councilman Greg Phipps for his reason voting no, the reply was terse: "Too dense." He mentioned nothing about drainage or green space.

Oddly, Phipps' own mayor just recently unveiled a 20-year comprehensive plan. It's already been used by Jeff Gahan -- the guy who in effect wrote it -- as justification to reduce public housing units.

And yet at roughly 35 separate places in this document, the word "density" is used in a positive fashion to describe the sort of development needed in the epicenter of the city, and near the core.

I was told that the developer of West Street Mews referenced the comprehensive plan at least four times during the city council presentation last Thursday. That's four times more often than Coffey and Pat McLaughlin did in their comments to the News and Tribune's Erin Walden.

Drainage didn't doom the development so much as incomprehension in terms of what has become the weakest and most inconsistent city council in recent memory. In the case of the West Street Mews, Al Knable is right.

“We ask people to look at us, take a risk and invest in New Albany all the time and I think we shut the door on somebody who had the guts to try to make some money with us and help us out."

Drainage concerns doomed proposed New Albany development

Turns down development 5-4

NEW ALBANY — New Albany City Council members are split when it comes to a proposed development at two vacant lots on West Street.

A request to build 26 townhouses on a vacant lot at 1105-1109 West Street was turned down 5-4 during a city council meeting last Thursday. With the request denied, the developer can build a fraction, 12 units, of what was planned under its current R-2 zoning.

Previously:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2017

Befuddlement at the news as strange council bedfellows unite to defeat West Street Mews.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2017

City Council Monday: All the mews fit to reject?

Phipps, McLaughlin pleasure mayor, oppose Blair's 6th district stormwater impact efforts, but the investigative measure passes council anyway.

The major story to emerge from last week's city council meeting was final approval of an ordinance establishing annual sewer rates increases.

Amid the inevitability, as we debated the suitability of pseudonyms like "bump" and "nudge," City Hall proved that in spite of perennially stunted bunker staff vocabularies, it can play the propaganda game adeptly:

Proactive Steps Taken to Protect New Albany Citizens

George Orwell would be so very proud. Proactive protection! Like a condom to guard against what's going to happen, anyway.

Safeguard residents and businesses against large sewer rate increases by assigning the Consumer Price Index for future rate changes.

In other words, we're safeguarding you against "increases" (not even bumps or nudges) by regulating rate "changes."

Timeless and masterful fecal matter from the business end of a male cow, although I'd like to know how much the imported ghostwriter cost. After all, they're nowhere near this clever, are they?

Okay, okay. I know, so on to Door Number Two.

Representatives of the usual engineering suspects and a handful of civic appointees were on hand at the council meeting to reiterate the municipal party line: As it pertains to stormwater, those Mt. Tabor area residents who insist on trusting their own two eyes instead of the mayor's should be ignored, and The Plan allowed to proceed.

And it probably will, but CM Blair's principled resolution carried, and there will be a stormwater study. It's a rebuke of sorts to the Dear Leader, but he can take heart in the unswerving loyalty of councilmen McLaughlin and Phipps.

Can someone loan me a bucket?

Echoing Hemingway's description of the bottle, a bucket is an agent of sovereign action. You can use it to bail stormwater runoff, vomit into it or toss it a timeserving functionary.

Study to look at Mount Tabor Road project impact on flooding in New Albany, by Elizabeth Beilman (N and T)

Despite city's stance, councilman checks on drainage effects of road project

NEW ALBANY — A stormwater study initiated by New Albany City Councilman Scott Blair will determine whether flooding will worsen for Mount Tabor Road residents because of a nearby road reconstruction, though project officials assure that it won't.

Blair, whose district includes the project area, brought the proposal to the council last week, when it passed with a 6-2 vote. Councilmen Pat McLaughlin and Greg Phipps voted against it.

"This has been a long-term issue," Blair said Tuesday. "A lot of folks who live in the Farmgate neighborhood have experienced flooding in their homes and their back yards."

Summit Sprigs, or the best stormwater slides TIF-ication can buy.

Mother Nature does it all for us.

By clear-cutting in March and waiting a few short months, we can see exactly where to put the water slides (in rainy season) and toboggan runs (in winter).

It's only one part of the inspiring, scenic State Street scene.

The Scott Blair Memorial Hardee's.

Got (Scott) Wood?

It's a shopping cart/Gahan public art.

Council frivolity, slice of the second part: "Gahan Cares More About Concrete Than People."

Thanks to Mr. B for these photos.

John Rosenbarger sat at his desk. Outside his door, the clamor of the peasantry could be heard amid the clatter of pitchforks.

He spat, then threw back his last shot of fiery sarsaparilla.

“The grandeur of my physique, the complexity of my worldview, the decency and taste implicit in my carriage, the grace with which I function in the mire of today’s world – all of these at once confuse and astound the buffoons at Mt. Tabor and Klerner Lane."

Rosenbarger gazed at his reflection in the framed portrait of Robert Moses.

"But Jeffie's got my back, bro."

New Albany residents concerned road construction will lead to more flooding; Council passes resolution to support NAFC Schools referendum

NEW ALBANY — Residents in neighborhoods near Silver Slate Creek have concerns that upcoming road construction will make flooding issues much worse.

Nearly 20 New Albany residents turned out at the New Albany City Council meeting Thursday to voice their concerns over a project that will widen Mount Tabor Road. New storm grates would mean drainage would go directly into the creek in the residential area.

Harvey Hamilton, who lives on Creek View Circle just in front of the creek, said he's been there 34 years and only started seeing issues four to five years ago.

“Silver Slate Creek starts right behind our house,” he said. “There's about a six or eight-foot pipe there that dumps where the creek starts. Now we've had five trees that have lost roots and washed across the creek. The cable people and the electric people moved their boxes up on the street.

“We're losing ground and losing trees. We appreciate anything you can do for us.”

For one resident, Team Gahan's congenital secretiveness has made the problem worse.

“It was my knowledge that plans for such projects have to be public, located somewhere within the county building where people who were affected could come and take a look at them and to my knowledge these people have said they've had trouble locating said plans."

6th district councilman Scott Blair, who helped the neighborhood slay the nasty Rosenbarger Roundabout back in '13, assured his constituents that he'd sponsor an openness resolution in council -- though he'll need to consult his Mutable Principles Book to see whether he can vote in favor of his own idea.

(Blair) wants to initiate a public meeting with the project engineers to keep the people updated on any changes that have been made and to refresh anyone's memory on the project that was initiated three years ago.

Bankers; you can't trust 'em, and even North Korea won't take 'em off your hands.

Unsurprisingly, the CoffeyCopperHead did not hesitate to strike: That hi-falootin' wee-fee dunnit.

“I still go back to $600,000 for WiFi for downtown. How far would that go to help this problem and that only goes to benefit very few people.”

Yes, "them people" again.

The summary:

The roundabout was removed from the plan in 2013, and the sidewalks are needed, but not unless the overall intent is narrowing lane widths and slowing traffic. These people rightly fear that road "improvements" will attract further traffic and make their drainage issues even worse. It's hard to argue against this point of view, but Jeff Gahan -- perhaps NA's least communicative mayor ever -- doesn't even try.

Hence the signs, and the pitchforks. If only we'd start using the latter.

(Part One)

Summit Springs and the torrential stormwater view from the Burger King parking lot.

A waterlogged Green Mouse says (circa noon on 4 July):

A few pics from the Burger King parking lot and downstream on State Street. How much thought was put into that illegally issued Storm Water Permit? If you look closely you can see the silt fence is broken. I would have gotten a better picture, but I did not have my waders on me.

Over at Break Wind, the stormwater retention pond is just about finished.

The residents of  Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats will be able to fish from their balconies for trophy Polar Pops.

That's almost better than bocce, don't you think?

The answer to persistent stormwater runoff issues? Clear-cutting, of course.

Because a "green" way is all about unimpeded vistas?

Rorschach test? Fb reader says, "It's an homage to the mayor's head."

Previously at NAC:

Down-low forestry: "Plant some trees to save a town from flooding? Not a bad idea."

Why not green infrastructure in New Albany? "Turning Stormwater Runoff Into Everyone's Business."

It's about green versus gray infrastructure.

How many trees have been chopped down in New Albany the past couple of weeks?

Turning Stormwater Runoff Into Everyone's Business, by Julian Spector

D.C.’s marketplace for stormwater retention credits wasn't taking off, but a new investment could change that.

 ... While a massive $2.6 billion tunnel system is underway to deal with some of the runoff, it’s not enough. That’s why the city turned to green infrastructure: rain gardens, green roofs, permeable surfaces, and leafy drainage ditches known as bioswales that filter and store extra rainwater, easing the load on the sewer system. These options cost much less than “gray infrastructure” and they make the city prettier and more enjoyable.

And using market forces to achieve it?

But the city can’t pay for it all by itself. That’s why, in 2013, the District Department of Energy and Environment came up with a new idea to get more green spaces scattered around the area. The agency created retention credits, available to homeowners, churches, businesses, and anyone else with land that could be upgraded to retain more rainwater. Those credits can then be sold to developers who may need them in order to meet the retention requirements for large new building projects.

I can hear Chairman Adam Disney now:

"But where's the campaign finance in THAT?"

Down-low forestry: "Plant some trees to save a town from flooding? Not a bad idea."

I'll just leave this here.

On occasion, when one of us criticizes another round of downtown chop-down forestry, we're assured that the trees are diseased, and that more will be replanted. I don't doubt they are. Is it enough, with a canopy so damaged by weather and negligence?

Yes, there's a tree board. Periodically a power-that-be mentions it. Is it too much to ask for this body to share with the public the precise nature of the master tree-plant-plan?

And, while we're on the topic, perhaps the stormwater utility can explain how it ties these together, trees and flooding prevention. Invariably, stormwater management is presented to us as engineering alone, much as the health care industry talks about drugs to cure conditions that might have been avoided through better personal health practices.

Surely Team Gahan can determine a way to monetize future campaigns via trees.

Plant some trees to save a town from flooding? Not a bad idea, by Nick Cohen (The Guardian)

... People in Keswick are more forthcoming and will tell you that, six years and one major flood later, nothing has been planted apart from a few trees on the lower slopes of Skiddaw. Last week, the Environment Agency showed that the state-sponsored neglect that afflicts the Lake District afflicts the rest of Britain too. The agency’s geographers argued that new woodlands could slow the rush of rainwater across much of the country. Forestry was not a cure-all, but an essential part of a wider response to climate change. Nothing will be done, of course. As the agency said: “There were insufficient funds to attempt the scale of works proposed in this report.”

NA: It's where YOU should be ... without any shade, so best head to the water park..

Elsewhere in Come Lumberjack City, THIS is the water park -- a pop-up water park, seeing as concepts like this are really hip at the moment.

Read about yet another stormwater flooding episode at WHAS (photo credit, too), know that we'll blame it on the state, and scratch your head.

Hmm, lots of asphalt, shrinking green space and trees falling left and right ... wonder if ... nah -- what possible connection could there be?

Let's ask the mayor:

Oops. Looks like he's busy planning events.

We'll come back later.

By canoe.

Mayor Jeff Gahan first wants you to know the STATE presented this one, not him.

Because in New Gahania, the propaganda always comes first.

(Fb posts were on Sunday afternoon).

Counting the ways -- that stop signs can be used as storm water grates?

If we've spent $6 million to prevent flooding, and flooding still occurs, is the price of admission to the water park higher on weekdays for out-of-state guests, or less on weekends during the blue light special?

What if you drink five Bud Light Limes first?

Then what?

How many additional alco-pops does it take before we reach "fundamentally better"?

Sewers are one side of the coin, and stormwater the other. Thanks to pro-active sewer rate increases during the third England term, which were opposed by then-councilman Gahan, the now-mayor Gahan takes credit for progress in the sewer utility -- which means it's time to give back to the ratepayers with a reduction in sewer rates, even if only a symbolic one.

However, it makes little sense to declare sewer "victory" when stormwater is in shambles and getting worse. As Bluegill recently noted:

It's a system that many around the city, who still experience regularly flooded streets and homes, can tell you is failing and not being adequately addressed. Given it's riverside location, New Albany is part of a massive drainage basin for the region, so I'd immediately start with cleaning up and maintaining our much neglected natural waterways, including putting a check on development patterns that block and otherwise obstruct them. Once they're properly functioning again, we can address the man made portions of the system that are still an obvious problem.

Plainly, the original stormwater master plan has been cut, pasted and abridged numerous times for short-term political motivations, as when then-councilman Gahan jumped the master plan's prioritization queue to have massive engineering work done in his own 6th district.

It's long past time to revisit the stormwater master plan, and conduct an audit of what's being done and what isn't.

As currently constituted, New Albany's stormwater control regime is a top-down, fee-based and expensive ongoing engineering project that utterly lacks citizen input. In fact, nothing at all is expected of residents, some of whom might be motivated to some degree by carrots and sticks with respect to the installation of rain barrels, or matching grants for restoring permeable surfaces.

There are many examples nationwide of small efforts over a larger area combining to help alleviate drainage problems. These begin with city government's willingness to engage with ordinary people, and to make all of us part of the solution, which of course includes engineering according to a science-based plan -- not a politically-based one.

Either that, or it's more of those $6 million stop sign plugs.

Watch the amazing permeable concrete video.

I've underlined a sentence that cannot be repeated often enough. Meanwhile, click through and watch this video. You will be amazed.

A Parking Lot That Drinks Stormwater: Topmix Permeable concrete soaks up 4,000 liters in 60 seconds, by Sarah Goodyear (City Lab)

Permeable pavement is one of those super-wonky infrastructure items—incredibly important but not always easy to care about. Thanks to the mesmerizing video above, however, a new and improved variety of concrete developed in the U.K. called Topmix Permeable has been turning heads. The video shows a parking lot paved with Topmix absorbing 4,000 liters of water in a minute, and it’s kind of magical to watch it disappear.

This new concrete, from Lafarge Tarmac, could potentially be a very useful tool in combating urban flash flooding from sudden, heavy storms—the type that are likely to become increasingly common because of climate change.

Council meeting recap 2: Dear Jeff.

Dear Jeff,

Missed you again at the council meeting Thursday.

Members of the public came to talk to the council about how the storm water plan is deficient, and the zoning code is whacked (your own attorney even conceded it), and the animal shelter needs help ... and you know what's crazy? Not a single one of them said, "Hey, but we have a water park now, so never mind -- it's all good."

So, when there are this many major infrastructure issues being mentioned this often for the past 12 years -- ever since you first served on the council -- exactly how is it that you've made New Albany fundamentally "better" since you've been mayor?

That is, unless you're having another vocabulary malfunction?

We really need to get together and debate. My people will call yours. Cool?

Not "Kool-Aid."

R

---

Flooded with concerns: New Albany residents ask for help with drainage problems, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

On curb grass, stormwater, challenging, and not pandering.

We've got a lot of curb grass this summer, and while this can be explained by an inordinate amount of rain, it also suggests that street sweeping isn't really cleaning the streets, because if it did, would there be soil enough for the grass to grow?

So, what do you do except mow the streets every now and then, as workers were doing recently at the Coyle Corporate Welfare Site?

Here is why this matters.

It is a problem, but wouldn't we be helping alleviate the problem if our stormwater runoff effort included not only big ticket expenditures, but also matching grants for various steps homeowners themselves could do to keep water from reaching these drains?

And educating about where the leaves and yard clippings belong, and enforcing them?

As it stands, we as a city collect monies and deploy them from the top down to "solve" the stormwater problem without any active expectations on the part of the citizenry. However, I think little efforts add up to big ones, and accrue less expensively than the big ones.

They're harder to hang plaques on, but who needs to take credit so long as something gets accomplished?

Campaign Diary, Chapter 2: A Baylor Paper on Street Sweeping.

Wednesday is street sweeping day at my address.

Being a good citizen, I'll go out and make sure the car is moved from the north side of Spring Street, lest I receive a citation for blocking the street sweeper.

Meanwhile, a few blocks west across an imaginary line somewhere, it's theoretically possible to park for weeks on end, in front of a downtown business, taking up a parking space without the slightest worry of being penalized. That's because we don't enforce parking regulations ... unless we do.

You'd need a Ouija board to know when, where and why -- and this must stop.

I'm not convinced the street sweeper has come past for a very long time, judging by the appearance of the parking lanes and the chronically unaddressed instances of road kill in the bicycle path, but when it does, the results are frankly ridiculous. Little of note is removed, and much of it is shifted from curbside directly into the bicycle path or out onto the traffic lanes themselves. All the while, citations are being written.

I have a few ideas on how we might improve this situation. Please read, and give me your feedback. Unlike the current occupant, I'm eager to listen.

---

A Baylor Paper on Street Sweeping.

HISTORY: In selected portions of New Albany, from March through October, city crews operate large vehicles with rotating brushes that are designed to “clean” the streets. A complex system of schedules make on-street parkers subject to citations and fines if they leave their cars along the curbs of these selected streets at specific times.

It is important to note that what gets “swept” are the parking lanes – not the streets per se. Although clearing the streets of litter, brush, debris, and deposited oils is a valiant goal, this ongoing program produces onerous side effects while being mostly ineffective at cleaning the selected streets.

Ostensibly, the program is part of an agreement with the EPA as part of this city’s efforts to comply with The Clean Water Act. The sweeping trucks are assumed to be keeping detritus from reaching our streams, including the Ohio River.

PREMISE: In fact, the sweeping program merely rearranges dirt while depositing it up onto sidewalks and onto nearby buildings. In addition, residents are subjected to inconvenience and financial loss. The program is almost universally considered to be a nuisance and to be ineffective. That conclusion is reinforced when we consider that many other streets that drain into our waterways are not subject to any kind of regular street sweeping program.

Further, the inclusion of this street sweeping program into our Clean Water Act compliance protocol is a fraud.

Petroleum products are the most toxic pollutant likely to be transferred from our streets into local waterways. Yet, we do not even attempt to clean the streets themselves – only the parking lanes.4

Perhaps, with other and/or better functioning equipment, a street cleaning program would be effective. But as currently constituted, the program is little more than an expensive make-work project and a scheme to extort money from those who must park their vehicles on city streets.

PROPOSAL: Effective immediately and by executive order, I will declare a 1-year moratorium on the existing street sweeping program. During that year, my administration will explore the implications of the existing program and maintain a regular inspection and reporting program on the cleanliness of the streets within the program area.

We will also inspect those streets outside of the existing program during this moratorium year. As most debris and deposited oils enter our waterways via storm drains, our stormwater professionals and advisors will be heavily consulted.

In addition to routine storm drain clearance, we will operate a crash program of drain clearing before impending storms and after known storms.

If we decide to resume the program in calendar year 2017, we will only do so if it can be proved to be effective.

---

Baylor for Mayor

VOTE INDEPENDENT ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015

BaylorforMayor.com
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Email at mayorbaylor@gmail.com
Campaign Phone (812) 944-3617