Utility District Slovenly With Carthage Project

The Metropolitan Utilities District has been doing a slovenly job while replacing a gas line in the Carthage neighborhood of east Omaha.

Issues do not concern the gas line work, but the associated measures needed to ensure public safety and retain values appreciated by the residents.

Especially problematic has been the lack of working lights on barricades, placement of proper barriers for holes in the streets, notice of street closures and spreading of dirt on streets and sidewalks.

In order to document instances of these issues, time on two recent evenings was spent to evaluate the situation. The following items only represent the status on recent days, while these conditions have been present for the past two or three weeks.

March 6, Friday Evening

• 1011 North 49th Street: light on one of the two barricades on the sidewalk not working
  
• northwest corner of 49th and Nicholas streets: one barricade light not working at a deep hole where a flimsy plastic barrier was the only thing in place to inhibit any possible accidents for vehicles or pedestrians that could fall into the hole
  
• 1109 North 49th Street: lights on two barricades on the sidewalk not working
  
• 1111 North 49th Street: lights on two barricades not working
  
• 49th and Caldwell Streets at the southeast corner: light on barricade not working
  
• general area at 49th and Hamilton streets: nine lights on barricades not working, with one barricade fallen to the ground, and another covered with a paper sack
  
• southwest corner of 50th Avenue and Hamilton streets: light on one barricade not working, and another light not working on barricade to southeast
  
• 1309 North 49th Avenue: light on one barricade not working
  

Overall, there were at least 19 barricades with nonworking lights. These conditions continued throughout the weekend.

March 9, Monday Evening

• 1011 North 49th Street: light on one barricade along the sidewalk not working
  
• northwest corner of 49th and Nicholas Street: two no working at street excavation
  
• 1101 North 49th Street: light on one barricade along the sidewalk not working
  
• 1103 North 49th Street: light on one barricade along the sidewalk not working
  
• 1109 North 49th Street: light on two barricades along the sidewalk not working
  
• 1111 North 49th Street: light on two barricades along the sidewalk not working
  
• southeast corner of 49th and Caldwell streets: light on one barricade not working; this is a site where after doing an excavation, the remaining dirt was just shoved into a treed area and into a pile, with no effort to shape the dirt to conform to the adjacent terrain
  
• 1301 North 49th Street: light on one barricade not working
  
• general area of 49th and Hamilton streets: lights on eight barricades not working; one barricade was lying on the ground; an extent of 49th street, which has been reopened, is a dirty mess and will be a muddy mess with the next precipitation
  
• 48th Avenue and Hamilton Street: one barricade with the light broken off; light on three barricades not working; one barricade fallen to the ground; and a safety hazard, a ca. ten foot hole with no barrier fence surrounding it to help ensure an attention to be safe to avoid falling into the hole, either by vehicles or pedestrians ... a cement barrier should have been suitably placed at the site to ensure safety for traffic
  
• 4906 Hamilton Street: light on one barricade not working
  
• 50th Avenue and Hamilton streets: light on one barricade not working
  
• 1309 North 49th Avenue: light on two barricades not working
  
• 1205 North 49th Avenue: light on one barricade not working
  
• 1109 North 49th Avenue: light on four barricades not working
  

During this foray, there were at least 30 barricades where the light was not working.

Hamilton Street remains closed to all traffic in either direction. There has been no found indication or notice to the residents of the neighborhood that this street closure would occur, nor any details on how long this thoroughfare street would remain closed.

March 10, Tuesday Evening

There were fewer barricades present because the repair work on some of the sidewalks had been completed.

• northwest corner of 49th and Nicholas street; two of eight barricade lights not working
  
• southeast corner of 49th and Caldwell: one of one barricade light not working
  
• 1310 North 49th Street: one of one barricade light not working
  
• 49th and Hamilton streets area: three barricade lights not working; one barricade light covered with a sack; one barricade fallen over; light on one large street barricade not working
  
• 48th Avenue and Hamilton streets: light on one barricade broken; lights on two other barricades not working
  
• 4844 Hamilton Street: two of four barricade lights not working
  
• 4906 Hamilton Street: two of seven barricade lights not working
  
• 4912 Hamilton Street: one of three barricade lights not working
  
• 4916 Hamilton Street: one of one barricade light not working
  
• 50th Avenue and Hamilton Streets: one of four barricade lights not working
  
• 1205 North 49th Avenue: two of three barricade lights not working
  
• 1109 North 49th Avenue: five of five barricade lights not working
  
• 1107 North 49th Avenue: one of three barricade lights not working
  

Slovenly conditions continued, with about 25 lights not working or simply broken.

March 11, Wednesday Evening

• 1011 North 49th Street: noticed that the concrete delivery truck washed out its chute and left the mess along the street curb after its delivery of concrete for the sidewalk repair
  
• northeast corner of 49th and Nicholas: three of eight barricade lights not working
  
• southeast corner of 49th and Caldwell Street: one of one barricade light not working; there are also two sheets of plywood and another piece of wood that have been left behind by the workers and are nothing more than trash along the street
  
• 1310 North 49th Street: one of one barricade light not working
  
• 49th and Hamilton streets: one of four barricade lights not working; four of five barricade lights not working; five of nine barricade lights not working; for the large street barricades, two of the three lights were not working
  
• 48th Avenue and Hamilton streets: three of six barricade lights not working; two of eight barricade lights not working; there is still no barrier around the big hole in the street
  
• 4844 Hamilton Street: one of four barricade lights not working; there are also two 4x4 holes with a ca. eight foot depth which have no barrier fence
  
• 4906 Hamilton Street: three of six barricade lights not working; there is also a ca. 10x10 hole with a ca. eight foot depth without a barrier fence
  
• 4912 Hamilton Street: one of three barricade lights not working
  
• 4916 Hamilton Street; one of one barricade light not working
  
• 50th Avenue and Hamilton streets: one of four barricade lights not working
  
• 1205 North 49th Avenue: two of three barricade lights not working
  
• 1109 North 49th Avenue: four of four barricade lights not working
  
• 1107 North 49th Avenue: one of one barricade light not working
  

There were about 36 busted or non-working lights, so conditions have worsened. What is even worse, there are multiple deep holes where there are safety concerns since there are no barrier fences being used.

The Metropolitan Utilities District is responsible for suitably indicating hazards and avoiding safety issues, as it is their wok site, and hey have hired a company to be responsible for the condition of the barricades. MUD is obviously doing a slovenly job, and this is despite having informed workers at the site about the situation. Any communications were a waste of time, because nothing changed.

This is no way for a company to deal with residents of a neighborhood.

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Subsequent to the second outing, details were once again sent to the chairman of the board for the Metropolitan Utilities District, as well as to the mayor of Omaha and press outlets.

A reply was soon received from a vice-president of MUD, that the barricade light outage situation would be dealt with, with particular focus on getting them into working order.

Conditions did improve, with many unworking lights changed and/or broken barricades replaced. And thankfully, the work was beginning to wrap-up and crews were leaving Carthage to go to some other neighbor to disrupt the setting as they are wont to do!

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March 24-25th: P.M. and A.M. Visit

It had been some time since taking a look at the barricade and barrier conditions, so an evening visit was first made. The dark of night had not descended enough to be certain on the working condition of the lights, so a pre-dawn visit was made Wednesday.

This is a summary of findings:

49th and Nicholas

street repair done but sidewalk being fixed - lights on seven barricades working, and it was also working on the one fallen to the ground

49th and Caldwell

sediment barriers properly working but the light on the barricade is not blinking

49th and Hamilton Streets

south hole: three lights working, with one barricade having fallen over

hole at intersection: lights on three standing barricades working, with two barricades having fallen over; the plastic barrier fence was half fallen over

at hole along sidewalk to east along Hamilton Street, there were six barricades with the light on one not working

48th Avenue and Hamilton Streets

one barricade fallen over; eight others were working, as placed around two large piles of dirt and concrete rubble unnecessarily placed in the street

4914 Hamilton Street

lights on two of three barricades working

4920 Hamilton Street

one of two barricade lights working

4951 Hamilton Street sidewalk

one of one light not working

corner of 50th Avenue and Hamilton streets

two of six barricade lights not working

near 50th and Hamilton streets

two of two lights working

The intersection of 49th and Hamilton Streets was not yet closed, as apparently the rainy Tuesday delayed the work. Once blocked, it was projected to be closed for a week.

The rain did make the thrown about dirt a muddy mess. It had to be removed from shoes several times, and some is still crusty on my soles.

April Situation

Utility work continues in the Carthage neighborhood. And the slovenly work by a contractor for the Metropolitan Utilities District is still obvious.

Another look at the barricade situation was done during early night on April 4th.

These are the particulars...

1009 North 49th Street: three lights of four on barricades working at the hole in the street

49th and Nicholas Street: seven working with one laying on the ground

The barricade lights along the sidewalk area of 1102 to 1106 North 49th Street were all working.

At 1108 North 49th Street, there were plastic cones in place where elsewhere there were barricades with lights. It was the same at 1110 North 49th Street. The reason for this difference is not known.

At 49th and Caldwell streets there were five barricades, with two working, one not working and two useless as they were fallen upon the ground.

Next upon the route of the early night at 1302 North 49th Street there are two places, with three working at one and one of two working at the second place.

To the east, about 48th Avenue and Hamilton streets, at the corner eight of nine lights on the barricades were blinking in the night time. To the west on the south side of the block, just one of four lights were working. On the north side of Hamilton, four of four barricade lights were operational.

Westward along Hamilton street, at the southwest corner of the 49th street intersection, five of five barricade lights worked. At 4916 Hamilton, five of six lights were working at a deep barricaded hole.

At the southwest corner of 49th Avenue and Hamilton Street, four of five lights worked.

At 50th Avenue and Hamilton Street, there were nine barricades with seven working, one not working and one useless on the ground.

The final locale viewed was along north 49th Avenue. At the 1316 address, there were five barricades, but only two were suitably working.

There are a few places where straw on the dirt indicates that the work is done, and something was put in place to get grass reestablished.

Non-compliant Dumpsters in Carthage Neighborhood

While walking about the Carthage neighborhood to enjoy the birds among an area which basically includes 48th Street to 50th Street and from Cuming Street northward to Hamilton Street, a wide-spread problem became apparent without any thought, but was obviously obvious. There are dumpsters at every one of the many apartment buildings and each one is obvious and unsightly. Trash is a commodity, and during the hours of early morning, especially between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. the truck disposal can be heard. On occasion the effort occurs before 3 a.m.

The dumpsters are readily available, but sometimes the trash exceeds the capacity. Many times it is strewn nearby in a careless and inconsiderate manner. Couches have been seen tossed next to a dumpster, as if proximity is sufficient. Portions of an unwanted bed have been strewn along north 48th Street, with some relics still obvious a few weeks after the discards were first strewn near a trash can site.

Some of the residents of the neighborhood think that they can toss away whatever, and if it is near some dumpster that is sufficient. There have been couches, every item associated with a bed, and many other objects too large to place into the container. The residents seem to be indifferent and make no effort to suitably dispose of unwanted things? It cannot be called trash, because there are so many more things being thrown away.

Many of these dumpsters are along the adjacent street, so they seemed to not be in compliance with a city of Omaha ordinance enacted many months ago (ergo, in 2011; code section 18-101, 102, 103 and 104).

"The violation of this article shall be punished by a fine of $100 for the first such offense, and by a fine of $500 for the second such offense and each such offense thereafter. Every day any such violation shall occur or continue shall constitute a separate offense." Omaha city ordinance 18-105

My first call to a city of Omaha planning official was in November 2012, and after many subsequent calls, wherein details were provided on the ordinance and its shifting status, something happened. After a city code enforcer visited the vicinity, dumpsters on some properties were noted to be in violation of one or more of four items associated with the ordinance, as indicated by official letters sent to property owners. They were given until May 10 to rectify the situation (i.e., ten days). A number of them made no change, but instead asked for a waver due to property limitations, so there will be a public hearing on these matters.

The hearing on June 24 will consider a number of these waver requests, with the actual extent not known until the official agenda is available a few days prior to the meeting. The following properties are those documented by the City of Omaha official, during their reconnoiter of a part of the neighborhood. Included in this listing are personal suggestions that might help to bring the siting of the dumpsters into compliance, and based upon there being moved from where they now occur:

1. 4716 Cuming Street, apartment: the dumpster is now on the south side of the building and obvious to traffic and pedestrians on adjacent streets and sidewalks; it could be moved to the northern extent of the parking area, and a screen could be placed to mask it
2. 4750 Lafayette Avenue, apartment: the dumpster is next to the street and could be moved to the back of the lot
3. 4760 Lafayette Avenue, apartment: the dumpster has been moved to the north, back side of the lot, well away from the street, so this property owner has seemingly made an effort to comply with the City of Omaha ordinance
4. 1014 North 47th Avenue, residence: containers a few feet east of 48th Street at the back side of the lot, could be easily moved to within the property parcel; a new location could be easily determined and would be preferable as it would move the trash setting further away from the public perspective
5. 4821 Nicholas Street, apartment: this dumpster needs to be removed from the northeast corner of the property, and placed elsewhere, perhaps to within the south parking
6. 918 North 48th Street: this property could not be located based upon the address indicated
7. 1115 North 48th Street, apartment: move the huge dumpster out of the parking area, and into the yard area
8. 909 North 48th Avenue, apartment: the dumpster could be placed at the southeast corner of the lot -- with perhaps some sort of barricade -- rather than being so obvious as it is now right along the street
9. 1003 North 48th Avenue, apartment: move the dumpster to the back of the parking area, rather than next to the street
10. 1007 North 48th Avenue, apartment: move the dumpster to the back of the parking area, rather than next to the street
11. 1017 North 48th Avenue, apartment: move the dumpster to the back of the parking area, rather than next to the street
12. 1101 North 48th Avenue, apartment: there was no dumpster present at this address on June 3rd.

Additional properties within this neighborhood also have dumpsters placed too close to a street, and which have apparently not been considered by city officials in regards to the ordinance. It's not a case of selective enforcement, but seemingly something else, because a particular point made with a City of Omaha official, with Caldwell Street particularly mentioned, there were mixed results, with further effort required, and essential to suitably addressing this issue. The following addresses are also among the places which need to be considered by Omaha officials, which make the decisions and write the official letters:

1. 1016 North 47th Avenue; the dumpster is along the 48th Street, on the back side of the building
2. 1120 North 47th Avenue: the dumpster here is adjacent to the street
3. 931 North 48th Avenue, Jacob's place: the dumpster could be setback from the street, though it might require that the mailbox be moved
4. 4858 Izard Street, apartment: move the big dumpster from near the street to the north end of the lot, and also require that trash pickup occur only after 4 a.m., rather than sometimes in the two a.m. hour
5. 1121 North 48th Avenue, apartment: move the dumpster away from the street and westward into the property parcel
6. 1310 North 49th Street, apartment: move the dumpster to the back of the lot
7. 4905 Caldwell Street, apartment: move the dumpster from next to the street and into the setback area which is currently used for parking
8. 1302 North 49th Street, apartment: move the dumpster from next to the street and to within the property parcel
9. 1301 North 49th Avenue, apartment: the trash receptacle could be place at the north end of the lot, which would get it away from being street-side
10. 1302 North 49th Avenue, apartment: the trash cans are now placed along the street, whereas they could be situated at the southwest corner of the building, and could be readily masked by a barrier
11. 4951 Hamilton Street, Carthage apartment house; move the dumpster from the northwest corner of the back parking lot, to the south end of this lot.

The city of Omaha ordinance seems to indicate that changes need to occur. The end result of some enforcement is that property owners responded with appeals rather than action. With only a partial review of the Carthage neighborhood, other considerations remain to be determined regarding this City of Omaha ordinance.

This is seemingly a government versus property owner situation. Any public opinion — always essential — regarding this matter is something of a dubious extent though essential details can be easily seen and considered by taking a few steps along the sidewalks of the neighborhood. Having a public hearing certainly allows an expression of opinion, in addition t o the property owner's point of view.

Hopefully, it will be a positive discourse with more than one opinion?

The 1000 and 1100 block of North 48th Street, showing examples of the cited dumpsters.

Along Caldell Street, westward from 49th Street. There are four violations of the "dumpster ordinance" visible in this photograph. All pictures taken February 13, 2013.