Residents Fight a Long Battle to Get Their Street Repaired

Like snow moguls that pose a challenge to skiers, the Chattanooga Place moguls, a series of dirt and asphalt street humps that are as high as eight inches, pose a safety challenge to drivers.

For almost a year, residents in this neighborhood above Sunset have fought to have the city repair the last 70 feet of the street where it intersects with Castac Place. They argue that the dangerous condition has resulted in tire blowouts and damage to the undercarriage of cars. Morever, there are no warning signs and no streetlights to alert motorists, bikers or skate boarders to the impending danger.

On Tuesday this week, City spokesperson Nazario Sauceda told the Palisadian-Post that the street will be fixed.

“Once I have a solid date, I will let you know when we plan to complete the localized repair,” he wrote in an e-mail and explained. He explained that “localized repair means that the area (not the entire street) that failed as a result of the tree-root damage, will be removed and replaced as follows: removal of existing pavement to expose tree roots, pruning of the roots that are creating the humps of the pavement and resurfacing of the area using new hot-mix asphalt.”

This was good news for resident Norm Beegun, who has been fighting for the street repair since last July. Beegun contacted the City and was shunted from Street Services, to the Forestry Division, to Water and Power and finally Special Projects, but no one would visit the site. “It’s really infuriating,” he said.

At last September’s block party, neighbors formed the Chattanooga Place committee and then contacted Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office. Mark Grant and field representative Joaquin Macias came to the site and then helped secure a visit from Tim Tyson (Forestry Division acting superintendent).

The curb has also sunk below street level on the east side of the street, and there is no handicapped access on the sidewalk, which is severely buckled. The City put five sawhorse- warning signs on the sidewalk, which have tipped over because of the unstable conditions.

Members of the committee were told the reason for the buckling sidewalk and street were the roots of two towering fir trees determined to be on the property of Ernie Buckles, a 90-year-old retired Santa Monica College professor and widower.

The committee was told by the City, “We can’t fix the street, curb or sidewalk because the trees are living.” So with permission from Buckles, the committee and other neighbors raised money to have the trees chopped down.

“We received bids up to $12,000, but finally paid $3,500,” said committee member John Colwell.

In September, City officials Luis Santana (special projects in Street Services), his boss Nick Lopez and Eric Taguchi (sidewalks) visited Chattanooga.

Taguchi estimated it would cost $40,000 to redo the cement sidewalk, which is buckled and impassable.

“We suggested removing the existing concrete sidewalk and replacing it using hot-mix asphalt ($10,000) until the time when funding for concrete sidewalk is identified,” said Sauceda, noting the City does not have a fund to fix sidewalks. “This option was not accepted by the residents.”

The Chattanooga committee felt an asphalt sidewalk wouldn’t look as good and should be done right the first time. They are currently getting outside concrete bids to compare prices.

Sauceda also confirmed that Akron Street between Bienvenda Avenue and Lachman Lane, which is riddled with broken and uneven pavement, is part of the proposed 2013-2014 resurfacing program.

“Once the city budget is adopted and once utility companies confirm that there is no scheduled work on Akron, we will determine if the location makes the final resurfacing list,” Sauceda said.