On October 15th at the Arcadia Neighborhood Association meeting, James Baker the public services director and engineer for the City of Kalamazoo attended to give us several major updates. James’ grandparents lived in Arcadia and as a kid he would often mow their lawn. He has a long history of familiarity with our neighborhood and cares what happens here.
If you’ve been surprised by low pressure and brown water from your faucet, James said help is on the way. The new water tower along Route 131 is scheduled to become operational. Currently, Arcadia’s water system runs with only 5% of additional capacity. That means when water demand is especially high, our water is coming from the pumps, right out of the ground. While safe, this water will often have a brown tinge to it. The new water tank will add a lot more capacity which will lead to consistently better water in Arcadia.
Mr. Baker took detailed notes of all the issues residents raised. He said due to a static budget from 2012 to 2018, Kalamazoo road repairs were 62 million dollars behind schedule. Still, some roads, including a few around Arcadia Elementary, were considered a high priority for safety and he’d have a crew tour the neighborhood to rate our damage and see about repairs.
Additionally, a contract has been awarded to repair the retaining walls along West Michigan Avenue. This work is scheduled to start within a few weeks. The cost for this, and all future repairs of the walls, will be covered by the city.
Now, less than 48 hours after our meeting, Mr. Baker has emailed our new neighborhood President, Rex Brueggemann the following information.
“I wanted to reach out and thank you for inviting me to the Arcadia Neighborhood meeting and additionally I want to thank the citizens for listening and for participating in the discussions. We are taking the following actions to address the concerns brought up during the meeting.”
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Work Orders Issued for HMA Patching (Hot Mix Asphalt Pothole Patching):
Lancaster
Weaver
Middlebury*
Ellendale
*Priority street for 2020 local streets paving program based on current condition
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Sidewalk Inspections – Future Repairs Needed:
Boswell
Edinburg
Ellendale
Supervisor inspection indicates a need to address these sidewalks during the 2020/2021 capital repair program.
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Additional Items:
Converting Yields to Stops
Crossing Guards
Plowing Eldridge 36 feet wide (not 24 feet wide)
Shoulder Improvements – Eldgridge/Berkshire
Traffic Enforcement – Howard/West Michigan
Sidewalk Snow Removal Compliance with Ordinance – West Michigan
Tree Trimming
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All-in-all, good news to which Rex replied, “James, thank you again for coming to our meeting. I appreciated all of the information you shared with us on a variety of infrastructure related topics. I also, in particular, appreciated the information you shared regarding the expense involved in local road resurfacing in the City, and the current amount of money being put toward that expense on an annual basis.