RECENT COMMENTS
Beware the steel plates on Marshall
From Melissa on the CHPN Facebook:
Heads up: steel plate on Marshall near the new apartment complex by the animal hospital appears to be sunken in and unstable. Non emergency police called but be aware.
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From Mark last week:
Over 6 months ago, a sink hole [at 22nd and Marshall] was fixed with a metal plate. It is on a bus route, so after 6 months of it getting hit, it’s moved about 2 feet. It’s created an actual unmarked speed bump, and the vibrations are literally tearing my house apart.
It’s started detaching my staircase from my wall, split the posts on the fence around my yard and caused the floors on my house to drop .5 inches so far.
I’ve been emailing the city every day along with my neighbors (who are suffering similar hardships)
The incredible thing is we got the race organizers this past weekend to leave a cone in it and traffic diverted. The city sent someone to pick it up!
Any advice you may have would be welcomed and appreciated.
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Marshall Street between 24th and 25th
TAGGED: Marshall Street
Bombard the Mayor on social media .
Contact 6, 8, and 12 news.
No better way to get results than having the media talk about it. This is a hell of a story and I’d be pissed it was happening to my property.
@ray – this would make a good little TV piece
I would like to second this concern. The recently put in steel plates on Marshall between 24th and 25th create what can only be called sonic booms. They literally reverberate my house to the point where objects fall of shelves and have cracked a window. I understand they’re a necessary evil for the underground utility work for Patrick Henry Square but they need to be a TEMPORARY necessary evil and one that goes away as quickly as possible. Being woken up multiple times in the middle of the night from your property shaking is NO FUN, especially when its followed by piercing bullldozer “security beeping” at 7am on the dot every day.
Don’t know if this will help, but last week I had a reason (unrelated) to call the mayor’s office. I got a quick and to the point answer from his assistant, Ms. Jefferson. Stoney’s phone is 646-7970 and she answers it. You might also try to find Jon Baliles and see if he can get you in touch with the new director of public works.
And I agree with John M. @3, call channel 12.
I’ll bring an orange cone over from the never-finished pole work on 21st. I think if you fashion a “SLOW” sign attached to a dowel rod, it may help until the news team gets there. But yeah, those 2 ton buses aren’t doing you any favors.
We live on 22nd and Marshall. A couple of weeks ago my husband called the city about this issue. They put it on the see click fix website. The next day a crew came out to re-adjust the plate. But it has moved further now!! We too are experiencing the earthquakes when large vehicles speed over the bump.
Oh my gosh! This is unbelievable
The city came out today and drew some lines where they will be doing work.
Selena, the COA, personally responded to the issue as well.
I’m hopeful that this is resolved asap!
This is absolutely absurd that it’s gotten this bad.
The city has finally started responding. It’ll be nice to be able to benchmark the damage.
One of the news channels came by this afternoon to film a story. I live next door to Mark and have the same problem. Pictures fall off the walls and I have cracks in the plaster. If the City doesn’t resolve this issue soon, we are taking legal action. This is intolerable.
I can substantiate the mini earthquakes too. We’ve been wondering how much of this our house can take, and yes it is literally a BOOM that can be heard and felt every time a bus rolls over it. I imagine the bus drivers are tired of it too.
Like my wife said above we called it in a few weeks ago because the plate was sliding downhill and we were afraid it could expose the hole and injure someone. It was slid partially back into place but has since slid another foot or so back downhill. Seems like an easy fix to me. A) Fill hole. B) Pave over. Done.
Raise hell, people. Raise living hell.
No need to be nice about it and don’t worry who you offend — you’re the ones getting totally screwed.
Damn I’d be pissed!!!
I’ve forgotten whether this stretch of Marshall Street is above the railroad tunnel or not. I guess I’ll have to look up some old city maps, though there might be a map posted at one time in the archives of CHPN.
Route of the train tunnel
https://chpn.net/2009/03/09/richmond-map-with-church-hill-train-tunnel/
Well, another day is here. City truck parked on the corner for about an hour this morning and then left. Nothing happening. Is Dwight Jones back at City Hall? No, that’s right, Mayor Stoney is in charge.
Neighbors say driving over metal plate in street is causing homes to shake
http://wtvr.com/2017/04/04/metal-plate-causing-homes-to-shake/
Welcome to day 234 of the Marshall Street steel plate watch. Anything happening?
Sad that that a private contracter comes out to check on this but City Hall doesn’t do shit.
Where’s Cynthia Newbille on this one?
Never bothered to try to talk to her. Responsiveness has not been one of her strong points.
Cynthia has been on the communications I’ve sent…not a word from her.
I guarantee if this was in front of her house, it’d be resolved.
The city sent people out last night to see if they could block it off. They stated they couldn’t as the busses would need to slow down.
Sarah—thank you for appearing on the news story!!!
6:20am update: 3-4 city workers pulled up and looked at the plate for 5 minutes.
Then, they drove away. I suspect that’s their “contribution” for the day.
Continue to call City Hall, people!!! I am.
Some of these people are elected officials…I know I’ll be doing everything in my power to remove theirs.
Welcome to day 235 of the Marshall St. steel plate watch. Cones have gone up with “no parking Monday to Friday 7:00 to 5:00” and they just dropped a porta potty off in front of my house . We’re making real progress!
We need new representation in the 7th district. Our present (and past) elected official is not a communicator. If you’re a representative you need to understand that communication, including responsiveness, is crucial to your constituents. I’ve lived here for almost 27 years and I keep hoping that at some point we can have a representative that is proactive, answers calls and emails, enjoys working for people, and makes his/her presence known not just during the campaign season.
I’m curious. I’ve read many comments in this and many other articles concerning your district and there is one theme that I continue to see, that your rep, Ms.Newbille is almost nonexistent when it comes to any issue affecting the safety and security of the residents. Can someone please explain how she continues to be reelected? I feel that people who invest their future in making their neighborhood better, and pay the outrageous taxes and fees in this City deserve better than crickets when it comes to representation of her constituents.
“Ms.Newbille is almost nonexistent when it comes to any issue affecting the safety and security of the residents.”
This is not true.
Folks have complaints about Ms.Newbille’s lack of constituent communication.
I see her around quite a bit, at meetings and the like. My take on Ms.Newbille is that she is process oriented, and is focussed on the large issues facing the community, with economic development and community renewal being a priority.
I’d suggest that rather than jumping this issue blame up to the mayor or our council person, that perhaps there is a DPW manager or department head or whomever who we could be tracking down and putting on the spot for information?
John, you are active in the community and have more opportunity to interface with Newbill. We, ordinary citizens cannot get basic responses from her. This is a tragic situation.
Update on the steel plate-workers came by and put more asphalt around the plate. Didn’t move it, just packed it in. This is classified as putting “lipstick on a pig”. It’s still a pig!
I absolutely agree with John on this subject! Dr. Newbille is a tough one – she’s not like McQuinn, who would stop by and chat as she drove around the neighborhood. I think Newbille works really hard for us in a different, but good, way. Regardless, this problem falls squarely in the shoulders of DPW.
People attending meetings in the 7th district have begun to publicly inquire of the council representative why she doesn’t respond to emails, phone calls, or messages sent via her facebook page. Her apparent surprise at hearing these questions indicates the problem might be worse than
initially thought to be – like, how can you not know you’re getting emails at a city email account?
Last I recall, DPW is an agency of the City. The City is run by the Mayor and City Council. Is there a disconnect I’m not aware of?
It seems like an over reaction to make everything their fault or their immediate responsibility, I think. Work the process.
“Work the process”? What’s that gotten people so far but cracked plaster and sinking foundations? People in that block have been more than patient.
If someone like Parker Agelasto was on this, he’d be on it like stink on shit. And, sure, I see that some might view Newbille as decent on those “big picture” issues but please don’t belittle the views of many that view her lack of responsiveness and visability as a huge problem.
And #30 is right, DPU is a City agency, an agency that ultimately reports to the Mayor.
He’s the one WE elected to be accountable, not some unknown city employee. It’s his job to hold them accountable, not us.
Sorry, raising hell is sometimes the only way to get results in Richmond.
I have made several posts about Newbille and my own personal encounters over the years, which have all resulted in a total diss on every subject brought up. If I was a City Council person, I would expect to be out and about shaking hands and meeting constituents, as well as answering correspondences to let them know that I have an inkling of concern about “ALL” issues and not just concentrating on one or two issues while totally ignoring the rest. It is a sad state of affairs when the mayor is seen more in public and is more accessible than a councilman.
That said, I would not rely on getting any sort of response from her but go straight to the DPW on this issue.
As a resident, i really hope my part time council person isn’t personally quarterbacking granular issues like this. I have to imagine Newbille gets tagged with dozens of street level issues like this daily. If, and their probably is, evidence that DPW is doing a crap job handling these kind of issues writ large, then she should be getting involved, but personally handling this kind of stuff is beyond the scope. I want a steward and advocate of the neighborhood not a complaint line.
“Work the process “. Really, John, you and I have been friends for a long time and, I hope I have been a big supporter of this site. I find that comment very condescending in light of what we’ve been through. I’ve been on the DPU website – dpucustserv.com- for a long time trying to get this resolved. Because of that they came by last month and put the first layer of asphalt down, after the plate had already gone 2 feet down the street. This issue did not just raise it’s ugly head last week. As you can see by my countdown it’s been going on since last August. I have tried to work the process but the process has not worked with me.
Not trying to condescend, sorry for not saying it better.
Just trying to say that there has to be someone in the heirarchy closer than Newbille or Stoney.
Bill,
Did they seriously just pack more asphalt around the plate?
Is there more of a speed bump now? Depending on the answers to these questions, I may seriously just lose it.
As far as who is accountable, it’s Levar and Cynthia. Quite frankly, it’s not our worry which of their employees is the dead weight here. They are elected to put the right people in
In the private sector, if one of my employees screws something up, it’s my fault. It doesn’t matter if my job is supposed to be bigger picture or not.
This issue isn’t an annoyance or nuisance where we could potentially just “suck it up and get over it”. It’s tearing apart our largest financial investment.
They just built up the asphalt around the plate. Nice little speed bump now. Plate should be down closer to 21st St.in a couple of weeks. I guess what the basic accountability issue is, here, is that I went to the polls and elected a Mayor and a City Council representative, not a head of Public Works. I have followed the proper channels in every way. I speak for several neighbors that have been hurt by this issue. There was a movie in the 70’s where a TV anchorman went ballistic and said, “I’m mad as hell, and I won’t take it anymore.” Well, there I am!
Congrats. We now have a back hoe, a portipot, more orange cones. Next thing you know, there’s going to be a “MEN AT WORK” easel out there. There’s a giant lego-looking metal form that I guess they are going to insert in the hole to bridge the gap. But I’m no engineer. Let the bandaid work begin and may your houses remain erect!
Based on the pictures my wife is sending me at work, they appear to be fixing the hole.
They worked on the hole for most all of the morning. It is starting to look closer to fixed! No exposed plate now!!
Thanks to the news team and this post we saw immediate progress on our metal plate issue!!
If it’s really been fixed, credit this thread that John started and people raising hell, especially with the media.
Yes! Fix is happening. Day 236 of Marshall St. steel plate watch brings results. The plate is still sitting, ominously, by the curb, but there is light at the end of the sewer! Thanks DPW for reacting to our complaints. I can cast blame when needed, but I can also give a shout out.
Thank you DPW!
I actually slept through the night last evening!