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CONTACT Union Park Neighborhood Association P.O. Box 180750 Boston, MA 02118 Tel 617-266-3742 Jerry Frank, President Send Us 
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| Neighborhood Clean Up - April 30, 2011 |
You are here: Recent Events > Neighborhood Clean Up - April 30, 2011
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Repairs spark Hub alley fights
By Jessica Fargen / In Your Neighborhood | Sunday, May 1, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com
South End neighbors are battling each other over who has to pay the $125,000 bill to fix a century-old private sewer line.
“If we keep waiting, it will be disastrous,” said Paul Duffy, 72, who sent a harshly worded letter to residents in 17 buildings on Appleton and Gray streets serviced by the private sewer line. He demanded they pay $24,000 as a down payment, which amounts to about $1,500 from each building. He wants the checks in a week.
There are 1,200 private alleys in the Hub, city councilors said, and neighbors who live on those streets are responsible for pothole repair and general safety. If they are serviced by a private sewer line — like Duffy and his neighbors — the burden of repair and maintenance also falls to individuals — not the city.
“This is a larger problem,” said At-Large City Councilor Felix Arroyo, who called a hearing to address maintenance of the city’s alleys last week after a wave of concern from residents sick of footing the bill for repairs on private ways.
On Appleton and Gray streets, neighbors are at odds over the $125,000 bill to repair a 120-feet-long brick sewer line under a private alley. Some residents don’t want to pay, Duffy said.
If nothing is done and the pipe fails, it could cause human waste to back up into homes and amount to a public health violation, Duffy said. Already, several homeowners have dealt with sewer backup, he said.
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission has no responsibility to fix the pipe, said spokesman Tom Bagley, adding that a repair plan has been approved.
Arroyo said the hearing was the first step in finding residents some relief, which could include easing restrictions on what can be deemed a public way. City and federal laws require public ways be at least 34 feet wide, but most alleys in the densely populated South End, Back Bay and Beacon Hill are much narrower than that.
“This problem is going to be there forever,” Arroyo said. “It’s not good for the private owner and public who uses it. It isn’t good for our own infrastructure to have some perfectly done and others falling apart.”
Jerry Frank, president of the Union Park Neighborhood Association in the South End, called the system “patently unfair.”
“Those who live on a private alley don’t get any kind of break in our assessment or our taxes because we are incurring the burdens of the maintenance of these alleys,” said Frank, who yesterday patched potholes on Ivanhoe Way, a private alley near his house. The alley is still a “disaster” and impassable for anyone in a wheelchair or pushing a stroller. He hopes the city is able to remedy the age-old inequity.
“I got the clear impression that the councilors . . . intend to do something about it,” he said. “They understand it’s a problem.”