POINEER PARK – Over half a decade, an alleyway off Percy Riley Avenue has been transformed.
Frequent dumping and rampant overgrowth have choked the narrow passageway over time, and today it reeks of many things: failure, shame and refuse.
Read: MILLIONS DOWN THE DRAIN – Doom for Newcastle’s play parks?
Resident, Sandra Bloy brought this matter to the Advertiser’s attention.
In an email message, she said the municipality had been approached for assistance numerous times both in person and telephonically.
However, for five years little was done to remedy the situation.
“We approached the municipality about either buying or renting the passage and incorporating it into our property for health and safety reasons but we were turned down.”
The problem was plain enough, until the rains of early January.
Mrs Bloy explained the rains of January 13 had dammed up behind a house on Coronation Road, and when the water eventually burst free, there was nowhere to drain off on Percy Riley Avenue.
“Much of the storm water should have run down the passage but the debris blocked its path, causing severe flooding. I’m not saying the blocked passage is the main cause of the amount of flood water which rushed through my house.”
What Mrs Bloy did say, was that if the passageway was free from obstruction, the damage to her property might have been lessened.
As it was, tenants on her property were forced to relocate after the rains.
The municipality was contacted to resolve the matter urgently – on Monday morning, municipal workers began clearing a path for necessary machinery.
A truckload of refuse and rubble was removed later in the afternoon.
While municipal staff did not arrive on Tuesday to further tackle the problem, Mrs Bloy expressed her appreciation that the matter was being taken seriously at last.
In her words, there was ‘still a long way to go’.
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