In 1997 Chicago had one of its worse storms that left in its wake millions of dollars worth of recorded damage and many more millions in unrecorded damage. It was so bad that the area was declared a disaster area thanks to the assistance of Congressman Danny K. Davis.
In 1998 Wayne A. Strnad and several community leaders met with Mayor Daley to discuss the roblem and derive a solution. Daley decided to allocate 28 million dollars for an area roughly bound by Belmont on the north, Harlem on the west, Central on the east and Dickens on the south. Work was to start in Alderman Bank’s ward.
In Alderman Bank's ward, large sewers were installed as shown above. In the 29th Ward, what we received appears in the photo to the right. It's called a vortex and its purpose is to hinder the flow of water into the sewer system.
Wayne Strnad denounced this bandaid approach and claimed it would not work to stop the flooding; at best, it shifts the responsibility of the city to that of the home owner. Now, the city wanted everyone to disconnect their downspouts that lead to the sewer system, essentially allowing water to flow onto the land. The only problem with that is if a storm occurs as it did in 1997, there was more than 4 inches of water on the land without the downspout disconnected. The disconnection would mean more water pouring onto the land.
Also, because many of the homes in the area are old, the foundations show signs of honeycomb - little pinholes in the concrete where water can seap through.
Of course, the city said Wayne Strnad was wrong and he didn't know what he was talking about. However, proof came in the 41st Ward - a ward that never flooded until after the vortex was installed in the catch basins. The alderman in that ward received many complaints from homeowners who never flooded. The end result was that the city was taken to court and the vortex devices were removed. They still remain in the 29th Ward as well as many other wards of Chicago, where the community residents and business concern just let the nonsense happen.
