Residents of Ward Street, including Greensboro City Councilmember Pearl Shepherd, aired their concerns at the Tuesday night, April 23 city council meeting about drainage issues in their community.
Jacqueline Travis, a resident of the Ward Street neighborhood, was on the agenda that night to discuss her concerns. She said a sinkhole had opened up in her back yard, which she attributed to the continuing drainage issues impacting her yard. She attributed it to drainage runoff that comes from the street into her yard.
“You have to see it to believe it,” she said. “It’s scary because it’s coming up to my house and it’s destroying my property…I’m not the only one; we’re all being affected by it.”
Councilmember Shepherd noted that she had discussed this issue often at meetings, but had not seen the situation improve.
“You know, all the water from all over town runs through Tuscaloosa Street, Ward Street…that’s the way it was designed to run,” said Streets and Sanitation Supervisor Aaron Evans. He said he thought the issue in Travis’ back yard and the street drainage were separate issues.
“We can stop most of that water [draining from the street],” said Mayor J.B. Washington, but putting in a curb. “But if we put a curb up then they can’t get in their driveway.”
Councilmember Bobbie Curtis asked about the issue in Travis’ back yard.
“It’s an open ditch, wide open,” said Shepherd. “It’s got pipes in it next to where I live. I spend money putting in dirt trying to build my property up,” she said, due to constant erosion from the drainage issues.
Evans said the city had one problem: “The City and the Utilities Board coming together…when they first put those drainages in, it was a ditch. But the construction just wore out, and it’s getting worse and worse.”
Evans said the Utilities Coard had lost some key employees who had been maintaining that infrastructure when they retired. “It’s just not getting the proper attention it needs to get. Until we get together, that’s the only way we can solve this.”
