Last week 70-80 truckloads of rip rap (that’s large chunks of rock) were unloaded at the end of Palm Street just west of Fourth Avenue. Each truckload weighed over 22 tons. That’s a total of approximately 1,650 tons of rock. And what did they do with all this rock? They dumped it into Maple Canyon!
Living on the treasured canyon, Al is concerned about its health, so he talked to the city who has known of the problem for over a year. But, since we don’t have enough money to take preventative action, it had to wait until a crisis developed before anything was done. The city’s project manager said, “Current activity at this location is an intermediary but emergency measure to safeguard public safety and private property on the north side of the Palm Street terminus (at Fourth). The geologist recommended immediate support of the slope or the nearby building would be lost. With the recent storms cracks widened significantly and increased in number, reaching the foundation of the building.”
What are they going to do about it? The city says, “The rock being placed now is a structural layer that will be covered by the permanent solution which will match the existing canyon in grade and vegetation. We do not have a complete plan for that solution — the geologist and civil engineer are working on a proposal now. A preliminary plan should be ready in a couple weeks.”
