Alderman Promises But Wayne Strnad says he really lied to the community and local business people
The year was 1997 when one of the worse floods ever to hit the City of Chicago found its path in the Belmont-Craigin community. It was very terrible because people simply were not expecting to lose as much of their pesonal belongings as they did. No matter what you tried to do to salvage your life's memories that laid in your basement, the rain and sewer water made sure it was destroyed. Read some background information below.
 Nearly 10 years earlier the same type of storm marched through our community and for 10 consecutive years Wayne Strnad would call the city and ask to have the sewers and catch basins cleaned. For those that might not be aware of the terms, a sewer is generally in the middle of a street. The catch basin sits by the curb so that the water can go into the sewer system via the catch basin. Here are some photos that you might find interesting.
As you can easily see, the amount of devestation mounted up to the tune of $86,000,000 dollars, the price tag that the former commissioner of sewers projected it would cost to fix the sewer system in Chicago.
What did the community get? First, a company that was very well connected with Daley, named Harze Engineering, was a business concern called in to work on the problem. They were budgeted to get approximately 1.5 million over the table - we say that because nobody knows how much they received under the table. Maybe call Daley and ask him.
They came up with a plan that installed something called a vortex. Mind you, the amount of loss for one single block ranged in price from $150,000 - $400,000. The vortex costed about $100 each. The vortex was to be placed in the catch basin (CB). There are approximately 6 CB units per city block. In other words, Daley didn't like the recommendation of his own commissioner of water because she put a price tag of $86 million to fix the problem. The city invested $600 per block to address the problem.
Isaac "Ike" Carothers wanted to champion the flooding as one of his own and said he would fight to fix the sewer problem. Another lie on Carothers part because he simply went along with the program that Daley wanted in the first place.
It was not uncommon during this period to get a complete run-a-round about specifics. In fact, Harza Engineering's President wrote to Daley and the liason between Harze, Daley's Office and the community, a letter about Wayne's involvement and how he was seeking information without following their protocals. To bad! That's all they had to do was answer the questions. It got so bad that Wayne designed the Kosiba Algorithm.
It's not going to work but we're going to do it anyway....
Background Information
In the original plans, the Department of Sewers, a representative from the Mayors Office, and community members were suppose to meet every 6 weeks to discuss the progress over the previous 6 weeks. Information was to be shared, when available.
Meetings rarely happened. The sharing of information from the Department of Sewers was essentially null and void, however, they did receive several letters from us. Commissioner Kosiba still holds a report that was issued from Harza Engineering that he refuses to share with the community. This is despite the fact that the report cost the taxpayers nearly 1.5 million.
Here are some stats that the Department of Sewers and Harza Engineering has spewed forth:
Characteristics of Belmont-Cragin Pilot Area
2,700 acres
54,000 residents
1.9% of the city
- During a 6-month equivalent rainstorm all of the basements flood in the area.
- Area has six outflow ares; most of the water travels to Howard cleaning stations to be cleaned
- TARP connection will be to McCook Quarry which is 5-10 years from completion
- Inlet control devices should provide complete coverage for typical rainstorm
- 85% of the area will be covered for 5-year equivalent rainstorms
- During a 100-year story 24% of the basements will still receive water
- Attempting to install relief sewers in trouble areas to bring increase percentages (89%) will be protected in 5-year rainstorms
- Will provide internal memorandum from Harza Engineering detailing the Top 4 trouble areas where "bottlenecks" will be cleared.
Here are some problems with the stats:
Regarding item 1: It is undefined as to what a 6-month equivalent rainstorm is. Is it .25 inch of rain? .50 inch? Or what?
Item 4: How does this relate to item 1? A typical rainstorm? What's that in inches?
Item 5: 85% of the area covered. This translates into 8100 people that still are not covered!
Item 6: The 100-year storm. In 1987 the City of Chicago was caught with its pants down. The amount of flooding was nearly as bad as that of 1997. Back then Sewer Department officials tried to dismiss it as a real rarity so they coined the phrase "100 year storm." The idea was clearly to make it appear as something that happens every 100 years. Guess what, in 1997 the flooding occurred again only this time it was 90 years too early. They had to dismiss the 100-year storm lingo.
Note though that nearly 1 out of 4 homes shall still flood. This translates into 13,500 people still affected. In a meeting with Mayor Daley, he said, "For $28 million, it better work." In our opinion, if 13,500 people are still affected then it simply does not work. And yes, this was pointed out to Kosiba in a meeting. He wanted to walk out of that meeting when the question arose as to when all 13,500 people would be taken care of.
Item 7: This is the best case scenario. Here we have 5,940 people that still flood.
Item 8: Kosiba is still sitting on it along with other reports that were to be shared with the community.
This particular piece that you can purchase shows the comparision of two aldermen, Banks and Carothers, and what they did for their respective communities.
For further information, visit Historical Perspective - Flooding
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