HomeMy WebLinkAboutmelvin st from east of bowen st to hazel st new storm sewers 9/22/2008October 27,2008
Addendum to petition for reconstruction of Melvin Street from
East of Bowen Street to Hazel Street, dated September 22, 2008.
Having been born and raised in this city on the far West
side I have witnessed this city grow a population of
22,000 to its present size of 72,000. The city limits on
the West side was Robbins Restaurant, Sawyer Street and
Knapp Street going South to 20th Street. Wittman Airport
was the only building on the southside of 20th Street except
for farmland to the West. The North side of Murdock Street
from Bowen Street East to Lake Winnebago was a swamp called
Doemel's dumps. This rough outline of the city was the way
it was sixty plus years ago.
The area where I and the petitioners reside was developed in
the mid 1940's to mid,1950 It was a very prestigious
area as many of Oshkosh's prominent business leaders lived
within two to three blocks of my residence. Perhaps you
would recognize some of the names. Charles Lowe -co owner of
Marcus Theaters, Dr. E.F. Cummings- Urologist, Franz
Boschwitz -Owner Pluswbod Ind., Morton Gazerwitz -Owner of
Oregon Clothing, Stanley Ginsberg -Owner of Badger Lumber &
Mfg. The area is still home to some of the above mentioned
people and remains a very nice, quiet, residential area.
Most of the residents' living here are retired and enjoy the
peacefullness of the area, however, the infrastructure in
this area has not kept up with the overall growth of the
city. As a consequence of this, we the residents and
taxpayers, are left with continually cleaning up our yards
and streets after a moderate one to two inch rainfall. As
one of my neighbors, who moved here roughly ten years ago,
told me I never paid any attention to storm clouds until I
moved here, now I shudder when rain is predicted. My handy
vac used to be in my garage, now I keep it in my basement.
If you were to come to this area, specifically, the
intersection of Evans and Melvin Street, you can readily see
it is perhaps the lowest point on the far East side. All
the water from the East, West, North and South drain into
this area, resulting in water continually covering Melvin
Street from East of Grove Street to West of Evans Street.
Needless to say it also flows into our yards, and yes, we
then must contend with inconsiderate people to drive their
cars and trucks down these streets creating waves which
result in water coming thru our basement windows. Most
residents are fearfull to go on extended vacations or any
vacation for that matter during the summer due to the
flooding which occurs I here.
I am perplexed as to why the streets South of Melvin Street,
which are East of Bowen Street, namely Lincoln, Irving and
Cleveland Streets have all been reconstructed and paved with
curb and gutter. The'same applies to East and West streets
North of Melvin Street and also East of Bowen Street. These
include Baldwin, New York Ave., Tennessee and Nevada
Streets. The only street not done was Custer. Why wasn't
Melvin Street done before some of these other ones? With
Webster Stanley School on Melvin it certainly would seem more
logical to reconstruct this street than some of the others.
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Our intention and purpose of this addendum is to impress
upon the City Manager, City Council, and any other officials
involved in considering our petition the need to act. This
is an URGENT PLEA to reconstruct and replace the storm and
sanitary sewers, pave Melvin Street with curb and gutter. I
am not an engineer, but I believe we need more than one
storm sewer to adequately handle the amount of water
draining into this area. I also believe that our closeness
to Lake winnebago contributes to a higher amount of water in
our storm sewers which contributes to frequent flooding. As
was stated in the original petition, the lack of adequate
drainage creates hazards for children attending Webster
Stanley School, as well as teachers and parents. Isn't
almost seventy years of waiting long enough to wait?
Your timely and positive consideration of this petition
would be greatly appreciated by ALL residents residing in
this area.
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Petiti fOr Reconstr of Melvin Str eet _ from Fact of Bowen Gt rec" + D Hazel
Street to include new st ¢,r�t ' sewe
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To the Oshkosh common counci ofthe City of Oshkosh:
The petition ofthe vndemp ed residents of said city respect&DY repro
That yow petitioners are residents ofthe said city, and that each of them resides is the street of the said city
reV=*e1y wrium below after then names{s), O THE WATER
To reconstruct Melvin Street as petitioned for above for the following
reasons. To alleviate the constant flooding of Me i
moderate rainfall. Flooding covers the sidetaalks which revents children
from crossing a
as Grove Street and Melvin Street. Melvin Street is a very heavily travele
PICKIRY p m1uts ParK on e iR s r et om az treat a v ns ee
Street f
° o when �Str�e and Grove J St e ret approxima ely 80 to 100 feet North and So
e vin treet in er c ions.
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