Mayoral Cyber Discussion(s)

In the following article, Mr. Austin Stanton responds to Tony Arredia's rebuttal to the claim that he did NOTHING to address the flood problems in the 8th Ward.  Two things are evident: 1) Mr. Arredia truly did nothing (at least he can't tell us what he did!) to alleviate local flooding in our ward during his past administration as both alderman and mayor; and 2) he lacks the understanding to solve local flooding problems in our community.

Following is an e-mail comment from Mr. Arredia and which Mr. Stanton refers to and challenges below.   The statement is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.   I never presented any such plan to Mr. Arredia.

Mr.Vinci came to my office when I was the mayor and presented what he thought wasa plan that we should explore --- I passed it on to the army corp. and our engineers for their input --- two weeks later I called Mr. Vinci asking him to meet with me and never heard from him --- I have also called Mr. Stanton with the same results.

Here's another FALSE REPRESENTATION by Mr. Arredia: 
I live on the same street that floods --- I have the same concerns --- the loss of property is the same. 

While it is true that Mr. Arredia lives on the same street that floods, the statement that the loss of property is the same is preposterous.   He lives at the end of Marshall Drive, right next to the park and never sustains the type of damage that other families in my neighborhood do.   I am sure his insurance company can verify that.
 

In order to put things in context, I have included Mr. Arredia's full response following Mr. Stanton's article. 

If you are a resident of another ward, please understand that if Tony Arredia doesn't know how to solve our local flooding problems, he isn't going to do much to help you either!   Residents have had enough of poor solutions!  

Sincerely,

Jim Vinci

Tony Arredia Misses the Mark on Flood Solutions 

Why a Vote for Him May Be a Mistake 

By Mr. Austin Stanton 

To respond to Mr. Arredia’s response below, please note the following:

1. I have never received any correspondence from Mr. Arredia in any way regarding the flooding issue. No phone calls, no e-mails, no letters, just mass mailed campaign literature. When I wrote a letter to Moylan in 2008, he responded to me within a week with an invitation to meet in his office with himself, Tim Oakley, and Rosemary Argus.I accepted and spent 1-1/2 hours in detailed discussion with all of them on the technical matters of the flooding issue. I came away with a better understanding of the causes and potential solutions to the local flooding. I felt that Tim Oakley had a comprehensive understanding of all the factors involved.
2. Disregarding the fact that Mr. Arredia doesn’t know that it is “Golf” Rd and not “Gulf” Rd, he refers tothe Levee 50 project as Phase I of The Master Storm Water Plan. I believe this is erroneous. The Storm Water Master Plan, prepared in 2003 by Christopher Burke Engineering, identified specific trouble areas in the neighborhoods, and was a direct response to the neighborhood flooding that occurred in Fall of 2001. This report laid out a 10 year plan to address the trouble spots with specific solutions. The work that was done on Marshall in 2010 was part of that plan and the residents of this Ward lobbied to get this project completed in 2010 instead of the original date of 2011. I have attached the portions of that report that applied to our neighborhood (Storm Water Master Plan). I have the entire report for anyone wanting to review it.
3. I believe that the purpose of Levee 50 was to accommodate detention from upstream. In any case, Levee 50 does nothing to provide more storage in the river south of Miner St. While Levee 50 is important to control and accommodate upstream flow, it has no effect, contrary to Mr. Arredia’s statement, in any way, on the flooding issues in the 8^th Ward. It has not “helped all of the wards in Des Plaines by increasing the capacity of the river to hold more water”.
4. Any reference to the problems experienced in Waycinden, including hydrant flushing, cost regulation, odors in the water, rust stains, and tree roots are immaterial to the flood issues we experience in our ward. Waycinden is handled by a private utility company, is subject to more stringent regulation than the city, and the residents have multiple options for recourse. Mr. Arredia’s reference to this work is irrelevant to our problems.
5. Mr. Arredia refers to Phase II of the project and states that it includes creating retention ponds and increased retention in pipes underground. Again, disregarding the use of the term “retention” in lieu of the correct term, “detention” (they are fundamentally different), I am unaware of any formal Phase II plan, with the exception of the recommendations contained in the report generated by RJN afterthe flow monitoring in 2011. This report contained specific recommendations on how to address the sanitary sewer issue. It is my belief that the concept of detention, as described by Mr. Arredia, is expensive and extremely cost prohibitive. I would be very interested in seeing a formal plan for this solution, along with the engineer’s estimate of both time and cost. I have to believe that the idea of above grade detention would involve the acquisition of large amounts real estate. This concept was proposed for our ward as a potential solution to our problem areas in the 2003 report, but was quickly discounted because it involved purchasing numerous houses or utilizing Friendship Park as detention. I would also point out that it is common engineering practice in the design of parking lots to allow some detention in the lots. This is normally limited to 12” and must be released within 24 hours.Our streets already do that.
6. I must again emphasize that we have 2 separate, but related, issues in the 8^th Ward. The first is the periodic street flooding that occurs after heavy rain events. While this is an inconvenience and has caused problems on my property, it has never directly caused me to have water in my basement. Undoubtedly, this is a majorproblem for residents with sunken garages, but does not affect most residents and is normally short term in nature. There is no question in my mind that the completion of the additional sewer on Marshall in 2010 has helped, but as I stated at the time, it will not handle an excessive rain event similar to theone we experienced in July, 2011. The second issue, the most critical and pressing issue, is the surcharge that occurs in the sanitary system due to infiltration and undersized pipes downstream of us. The RJN report on the flow monitoring and infiltration analysis specifically details these problems. When the sanitary system fills up with storm water, people get water in their basements and seepage due to the hydrostatic pressure. Solving this problem first will give residents relief from the type of problems I have experienced in the last 5 years. I care far less about water in the street than I do about water in my basement.

While I have no position on his previous tenure as mayor, Mr.Arredia’s responses to these questions further reinforce my initial impression that he neither understands the problems in our ward nor has any concept of the possible solutions. He seems to be unaware of the significance of the RJN report on the flow monitoring and the recommendations made. A fifteen minute discussion with Tim Oakley may have prevented him from making so many obvious misstatements and could have provided him with the necessary information to make a thoughtful response.

I am especially troubled by his contention that he reached out to me, when, in fact, that has never happened.

Based on my knowledge of the problems in our ward, the amount of time I have spent on this issue, and Mr. Arredia’s responses, I am very uncomfortable with the future of our ward should he be elected.

TONY ARREDIA RESPONSE BELOW

Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2013 13:13:38 -0500
Subject: RE: 8th Ward DP Questions

Theflooding problems within the city of Des Plaines are more complex than anyone could imagine.  For a period of 25 years prior to my election, the Army Corp of Engineers --- FEMA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources found ways of delaying the build out of the Des Plaines River Levee #50 Project. Within 4 years of my tenure I was able to secure both the funding and completion of the Levee #50 project ($15.000.000.00 dollars vs $450.000.00 dollars paid by Des Plaines).  There have also been an assortment of other flooding and water safety problems that I successfully addressed.  For instance, residents living within the Wayciden area being serviced by IllinoisWater had been facing the following problems for years:

 1)Water odors from sinks -- showers and bath tubs.

 2)Rust stains on tubs and showers.

 3)Poor quality drinking water.

 4)Constant sewer backups resulting from both tree roots and broken sewer lines.

 5)Uncontrollable and random billing increases.

Duringa three year period, we worked with the management of Illinois Water (sold toAmerican Water) and resolved each of the aforementioned problems:

1)Water hydrants had not been flushed for several years -- instituted a plan that addressed  yearly clean up of their water lines that reduced and in most cases eliminated problems 1-2-3.

2)Imitated and completed the installation of new water main linings without tearing up streets and/or lawns (plastic inter lacing of water mains were competed in five city blocks at a cost of $1.5 million dollars paid by IllinoisWater).

3)Met with the State Water Commission and prevented all privately owned water supply  companies from increasing fees for water service without presenting justification to the  State's review board.

The only way that flooding will be eliminated within Des Plaines (including the 8th ward) is to direct water flow to areas away from sewers and back yards (recently new sewers were installed on Marshall and that same summer we had several feet of water on the street surface).  When rain falls exceed the norm there needs to be a holding place for water until it can be filtered into a safer place.  My definition of a safer place is a water retention pond which does not have to be located above ground.  I will continue phase #2 of the Des Plaines flood program (Phase #1 was the Levee #50 Storm Water Plan that included widing the river 15 feet --- building a pumping station and flood gates along Gulf Road that has saved over 200 homes since its construction). It should also be mentioned that Phase 1# helped all of the wards in DesPlaines by increasing the capacity of the river to hold more water.   

Phase#2 includes building strategically placed water retention ponds --- new sewers with larger capacities and reducing the number of gravity pull street gutters that tend to overpower old sewer systems. 

Because Des Plaines is land locked finding large areas for water retention is near impossible, however, there is nothing preventing construction of underground water storage facilities that could reduce sewer over flows and backyard flooding.  We also need to explore the possibility of hooking up the 4th and 8th wards to the Deep Tunnel located just south of Oakton.  Without a plan that addresses the entire city, flooding will continue to cause problems in every ward.  There needs to be a plan started immediately --- we have already lost 4 years ….. we cannot afford to lose another 4 years.   

Bythe way, to the comment the statement that "Nothing has happened in the 8th ward to address flooding under my term" is just not true --- I live on the same street that floods --- I have the same concerns --- the loss of property is the same--- However, I know what needs to be done and if we do not start at the river and move west to our ward we will NEVER resolve the problem.   If the current administration would have exercised the push that I was known for, we would have been further along toward resolving the problem --- flooding has been on their priority list for the past four years --- what have they accomplished ---- nothing !!!!.  I welcome an opportunity to discuss this issue with residents that feel that I have not done my job.    

your friend

  tony