City responds to neighbors about raingardens

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Last week we wrote about a meeting held between residents who live along the Ballard Roadside Raingarden pilot project (map of project here) and Seattle Public Utilities.

At the meeting, residents raised concerns about the ineffectiveness of the raingardens and the design standards. After the meeting, Deputy Director Nancy Ahren said the city would respond in a week. On Friday afternoon, this letter (.pdf) was sent to residents outlining a plan-of-action, which includes moving forward this week with retrofitting the raingardens that aren’t working.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

39 thoughts to “City responds to neighbors about raingardens”

  2. The streets are not wrecked. They remain in perfect condition.

    A few things about the bioretention cells; 1) The vast majority of the cells are working, 2) there should have been some simple under-drain system in place, 3) better communication from the city at the beginning would have helped a lot of the misunderstanding. 4) It’s a pilot program. A number of things have been learned (#2, 3) and will be applied – to the taxpayer’s benefit – in other LID programs throughout the City.

    Also, I think most residents saw the photos from the SeaStreet project and thought that’s what the vegetation would instantly be. It will. Soon. Just not the first winter immediately after construction was completed.

    I know by the end of this summer, the cells will be gorgeous and functioning well.

  3. 1. Failing to do due diligence is known as “the Seattle way.”

    2. Except that sometimes, doing excessive study and still getting the result wrong is also known as “the Seattle way.”

    3. Balancing theory and action for the purpose of achieving the best results (“the right way”) only happens elsewhere.

    4. People around here are very defensive of “the Seattle way” for some inexplicable reason.

  5. I’m a bit confused by the letter — would the drain hole drilling be intended to connect the adjacent “cells” so that water could flow from one to the next?
    If so, wouldn’t that just result in the water all flowing into the downhill-most cell?

  8. Probably because this city is run by arrogant, incompetent, morons who don’t give a damn about the serfs who have to suffer under their “improvements”.

  9. That’s what it sounded like to me, too. Yet another example of what caused the problems in the first place: just do something – anything – so it looks like you know what you’re doing, and worry about the results later.

  11. why do you care? west nile virus is an overblown hoax.

    I still can’t believe the comments on here:
    “our wrecked streets”
    “serfs having to suffer”

    you jokers should be so lucky you got this pilot project on your street.
    quit your whining.

  17. Does anyone know whether the City will bore new test holes before putting the drains in? It might be nice to check the soil profile (as in how far down are the drains going to go and through what soils?). If they don’t check, and either rely on the soil tests they apparently did last summer…could be causing even more problems, that is unless really all they are doing is causing the water to flow downhill to the last “cells” then remove the asphalt plugs to have the water flow into the stormwater system.

    Anyway, someone might want to ask the City about new soil tests.

  18. You’re cute…

    Try walking by so you can have a clue what they’re talking about rather than showing off your clever vocabulary.

    It’s a good idea executed so poorly it’s beyond belief.

  19. this was all a waste of time and money better spent elsewhere.
    by summer these will all be algie over run and a breeding ground for unwanted organisms. not to mention the potential hazard of children playing in and/or around them and possibility of falling into them and getting hurt or drowning.
    this was one of the old ballard trolly streets and a great way to get from 65th to 80th without getting caught in traffic now it looks like crap and two cars can hardly pass eachother without busting off a mirror.
    ballard is getting ruined by yuppies thinking they are doing good when in fact making it all worse.

  20. What an overreaction. Kids drowning? If you would let a toddler run around without supervision and make your drowning scenario a viable threat, then you have a problem that has nothing to do with these faulty rain gardens.

  22. TTTCOTTH which stands for TwoToTheChestOneToTheHead is obviously going to have issues with anything government related.
    The city has recognized the problem and is taking steps to fix it. This week. Today in fact. What more do you want?

  24. There’s a rain garden two block from my house that drains perfectly. Check out Ballard Corners Park. Until then, people that poo-poo these things are NIMBYs.

  26. further, having one of these in front of your house would be equivalent to you living IN Ballard Commons Park, not two blocks from it

    and half of these don’t actually drain, unlike Ballard Commons Park

  27. I have been here fifty years & happen to care about our neighborhood. My facts are correct. Our block gets to witness daily the six Rain gardens on our block not working every time it rains. They have been plugged for a couple weeks yet one is full from yesterday mornings rain.

  28. Washington State Drowning Prevention disagrees with you. They tell people to remove every little inch of water out of their yard – little kids really do drown in that. So then the City comes along and builds something like this. By the way – why is there standing water again? Raingardens are supposed to DRAIN.

  29. The worst thing is those SPU people really JUST DON’T CARE. It’s like living in China around there – if you complain because there is STANDING WATER that smells in huge ponds on residential blocks, they tell you you don’t care about the enviorment. Be careful if SPU ever tells you they want to “beautify” your neighborhood – they are about to dump off a pile of broken bricks – and if you complain, they’ll start a TASK FORCE. Uh – just come pick up the bricks, morons. We know how to fix it and still have Raingardens – they just don’t care.

  30. So would you take one of these non-draining two foot ditches in front of your house? Try that, and then you’ll have a whole new perspective on NIMBYism.

  32. oh, poor you.

    you actually have to deal with the impervious surfaces your house and driveway create.
    I do not see any problem with small containment ponds to deal with you imperviousness.

  33. don’t you see, seagirl?

    your complaints are ridiculous.
    standing water? smelly? so what. your house created it.

    the city government does not exist to make your life easier and less stinkier.

    instead, we have to deal with all your two car driveways. you want pavement, you get rain gardens. deal with it.

  34. I don’t care about West Nile Virus, I care about mosquito’s biting me. The more open standing water, the more mosquito’s.

    Its careless people leaving standing water out to cause them to be spawned. Which resulted in massive amounts of DDT and other dioxins being sprayed across this country for a long time. Sure, the chemicals have changed – but why go there? Send the emo-hipster raingardens back to California where they belong. Sure didn’t originate here, just like all the SUV’s and people who use animals as accessories in Ballard.
    (can i get a wut wut)

  35. The Seattle Way:

    1: Someone who lives nowhere near you and will never interact with you will scream, shout and holler about something in your proximity. Look who came out to whine about the Dennys Googy Architecture? What? They’re not from Ballard, hell, some of them wern’t even from the county or even Washington state. They’ll get face time on the news for the sound byte and further make your neighborhood look like loons.

    2: In this process, actual disenfranchised people will be totally overlooked while whatever elitist issue is pushed to the forefront. Dennys? How about the 10-20 people who live in the parking lot? Or at the Bowling Alley parking lot? Why are we complaining about airplane noise when petty crime is on a rise. This is always followed with the Ballard Glee Fan Club going OMG THERE IS NO CRIME INCREASE ITS SAFE HERE PLEASE BUY MY CONDO ITS VALUE IS DROPPING PLEASE.

    4: Seattle leaders will always serve up a solution that is “not the best solution, but the best we can do”. Laziness is another term for this.

    5: Such half-assed solutions will blow up years later and everyone will hrug off the blame. Life goes on.

    Examples:

    -Seattle outsourcing electrical inspection of light poles. Poorly written RFP results in removing record keeping. Dogs die as a result of coming in contact with energized puddles/surfaces. No one looses their job. Woops, taking all that crap out of the contract seemed like a good money saving idea.

    -Monorail (lol, raised taxes and no rain. woopz guise)

    -The Trail

    -Viaduct / Tunnel (we need to make a decision by this date!!! even if its the wrong one, we can at least say we made one!!)

  36. If a toddler drowns in a puddle or kiddie pool, you don’t blame the puddle or kiddie pool, you blame the parent who wasn’t watching. I know people generally would rather exist in denial and pretend they’re innocent when something goes wrong, so the spirit of your argument isn’t unusual. But the danger you see in those puddles and kiddie pools is really easy to avoid if you be a responsible parent and watch your kids. Don’t let your child swim alone, don’t let your child roam the street alone. No-brainer. The fact that you need to learn these tips from the Washington State Drowning Prevention Network is a little disturbing.

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