I found something almost heartwarming in Tuesday night’s city council agenda.
First, a little background: There are some sewers in older parts of Peoria known as “wildcat” sewers. These are sewers that were developed privately and do not conform to city code. The city has a program, known as the Wildcat Sewer Program, that helps residents abandon their wildcat sewers and connect to the city’s sewer system by paying half the cost of connection.
Well, some Peoria residents on North Machin were connected to a wildcat sewer that had collapsed and was completely useless. But these people were unable to afford even half the cost of connecting to the city’s sewer system, and had resigned themselves to living with the consequences. The city decided to go ahead and connect them to city sewers anyway and pay the whole cost of connection. You can read a more detailed version of the story here.
I’m impressed that the city has been willing to treat this as an emergency repair and help these residents out. Kudos to the city for their random act of kindness!
CJ,
Thanks for the kind remarks about this project. Much of the credit goes to David Haste who is the head of streets and sewers in the City and who worked tirelessly to see that the affected individuals got the help they needed (including arranging for a hotel room for one elderly gentleman who lives alone). The unaffected neighbors in the area were also remarkable for their care and kindness during this situation.
Barbara