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Citizen complaint of the day: Our dirt roads are getting too bumpy
By adamg on Tue, 08/05/2014 - 6:16pm
While Beacon Hill nobs fret over the color of handicap access ramps, people in the Grove section of West Roxbury, where there are no paved roads at all, have another concern, as one annoyed citizen complains:
All the dirt roads in the area have bad potholes that will cause damage to peoples cars it needs to be fixed as soon as possible I have gotten hurt walking through the area and a elderly woman has gotten hurt from walking in the area please fix asap.
In addition to not having paved roads, the Grove, located between Grove and Centre streets, is the only part of Boston that has no city sewers.
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Comments
The grove is like
Driving on the moon! I was always under the impression that they paid a reduced property tax because of their shit roads. But then again how long have they been neglected, you would think after a few decades the city would get around to paving the joint.
Cool neighborhood, it's like living in northern NH but without having to drive 45 min to the supermarket.
I know where, is it by the
I know where, is it by the home depot dedham /West Roxbury line..it does look a little like your somewhere in the woods of a New Hampshire town.
Caint rightly agree with ya on that, son
Caint rightly agree with ya on that, son. We aint but a stone's throw from the corna of Washington 'n' Grove. You just ask that Adam fella, he'll set ya straight right quick. Seems he's been writin' 'bout them nearby fancy forEEN restronts 'n' groceries 'n' whatall. Turns out one uf 'em's right smack next to muh car dealer - not that forEEN fella with the fancy MERcedes VEEhickles, but the one with the Nash Metropolitans, Chrysler Imperials 'n' such. Now them's some cars!
The steps still there by the
The steps still there by the Nine to Nine Supermarket ?
Dude , that be the old City
Dude , that be the old City of Boston dump, Kevin H White Mayor , and also the old drive in theatre. It is down the street from the quarry, there were all sorts of gravel operations in the proximity. Dont know why it wasnt one itself, but the West Roxbury Crushed Stone quarry probably had enough capacity for everything. It used to feed the old Baker hot top plant with aggregate , the plant being on Washington street JP across from the Braddock Cafe ,or Doyle's , now that shots and chasers are out of vogue, before it moved to Hyde Park ave. Ah , the sound of those old Baker Sterling chain drives, those were the days....
I remember hearing the same
I remember hearing the same thing about the paved roads, although I'm not quite sure where this neighborhood is.
(Sorry, I'm not even going to attempt a New Hampshah accent here.)
Live free or die!
Live free or die!
Hey, I grew up in northern NH
Hey, I grew up in northern NH (Coos County) and our roads are paved!
Now, my sister's area in central NH is another story.
Some a them thar roads is private ways
Some a them thar roads is private ways, I reckon, so ya best round up the menfolk this Satiday morn'n afore the barbeeque 'n' commence ta fillin' in them holes 'smuch as ya cain. Caint work on Sundys, a course, so ya best get the EN-tire grove a-ready. Y'all gonna hafta wait a spell afore y'all have enough time ta rebuild them stills, I's afeard.
Don't fergit!
We'll need an oil truck to hold down the dust if they fill and gravel it right!
Oil?
That's Texas Tea!
Gal, we don't want no gravel
Gal, we don't want no gravel from no City fellas on our roads! They can hep themseves to a-workin' on a piece a Grove St in front of that CHInese restront, where the street looks like it had itself a little earthquake for itself. Darn cute --'til ya commence ta crossin' the road.
Oh, yeah, that's horrible
That long speed bump is something.
The last time we were in the Grove, last summer, there was an old city truck parked there that still said "Raymond L. Flynn, Mayor."
only part with no sewers - Is that accurate?
There are several other neighborhoods that I can think of that are at least a couple blocks in size that have unpaved roads and no sewers (it's hard to imagine there aren't a more).
One is the Parley Vale area in JP (or maybe 'was' - on google maps it looks like the area may have been improved since I migrated slightly westward). There's Ada street in Roslindale - no pavement, no sewers. And there's a dead end street several hundred yards long near the quarry in WRox that's unpaved, or only partially so, and does not appear to have sewer service - at least no street sewers, as after a heavy rain it is often a long skinny pond for a day or two. I came upon it in that state several years ago, and the country boy in me could not resist seeing where it went. Not that far, unfortunately, there were only a few houses along it and it ended as someone's driveway.
Tough digging , wear out the
Tough digging , wear out the hoe ram for sure.
Private ways are called that for a reason
Back in the day, I delivered for Mikey Vs (I have no idea what it is now) on Grove St and spent a lot of time navigating the gulches of the Grove. There are two ways to get to almost every house in the Grove - one of them usually being certain death... to your oil pan.
There is a simple way to fix the problems of potholes and such on a PRIVATE WAY: Fill the holes in with dirt, gravel and clay. Repeat as necessary. Mass law states that any repair done on a PRIVATE WAY by the government will be a liability for that government for six years after. There are bylaws a city or town can adopt to immunize against the six year liability. I have no idea what Boston has going on. I live on a private way down on the Cape and we have a neighborhood hero who fills everything yearly. I hope I am not the only one laying cash on him because he does a great job.
private ways are not private roads
You're thinking of private roads, not private ways. There's a difference.
Private ways are roads which were requested and paid for by a private party, but which were planned and constructed by the town/city.
Private roads are what you get when you're Charles Heston the Third and you want a more direct path to the town center from your neighborhood. You pay the town/city to build the road for you.
By definition a "way" is for the use of all.
Your definitions of private
Your definitions of private way and private road did not discernibly differentiate the two.
No sewers?
I'm surprised that is allowed. Without sewers, aren't these houses directly polluting the Charles River or some other nearby body of water?
A big Title V issue for years
The houses are somehow built on bedrock on some other rock that is very difficult to work with. When Title V came out, there was a big issue with the septic systems used by the houses in the Grove.
The issues in the Grove gave me some respect for Chuck Turner. He seemed to take this issue to heart and, even though it was not in the district, showed up to citizens meetings. Then he taught me what a "preacher's handshake" was.
So, sewers would be quite difficult to install, but hopefully the soil subsystem keeps sewage from making it to the Charles.
(All of this is from vague memories, and without any good biology or environmental science background. Corrections encouraged.)
They probably have septic
They probably have septic systems, so no, not really. The earth naturally filters things pretty well. In fact, sewage is more likely to make it into the Charles through city sewers than through a septic system, because many places still have combined sewers that also handle runoff, and thus overflow in significant rain events.
Not having sewer is surprising in Boston proper, but it's the norm in most rural/exurban areas.
Perc test failure means no septic, though
I suspect the leaching fields for these properties may be problematic under Title 5, since they were all put in before percolation tests were manditory.
Put simply: if your property and proposed leaching field won't perc, you can't sell the property without sewer connection or upgrade.
Even in rural/exurban areas, you can't build on a property without an acceptable leach field.
And that very well may be the
And that very well may be the case here.
To be quite honest I'd never even heard of the neighborhood until yesterday, so I don't know any specifics about their situation.
Dont think perking would be a
Dont think perking would be a problem here , Swirls , very good drainage!
City Responded this AM
misspelling score = 22%
Grove
Something cool:
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=42.264612~-71.161626&lvl=19&sty=x~lat~4...
Bing has added street-level images for some areas.