Neighbors pay way out of rut

Residents of affluent area pony up for private snowplowing contractor

Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 1, 2007 at midnight

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Denver residents fed up with icy ruts on their streets have buried city officials with complaints, hoping their e-mails, letters and phone calls will bring some relief.

Others, however, have grown tired of waiting for results and are taking matters into their own hands.

The Crestmoor Park Homeowners Association-Filing 2, an affluent neighborhood in east Denver, gave up on city government and hired an independent contractor to clear some of their streets.

The neighborhood expects to pay up to $10,000 for the work. The money will come from the $75-a-year dues homeowners pay to the association.

Residents had little choice, said HOA President John Sadwith.

The Public Works Department "said they'd be out there in two days and they never came," he said.

"We had many e-mails with (Councilwoman) Marcia Johnson, and the e-mails back from her were always the same, which was the city says they'll get to everybody in two weeks," he said. "That was on the 10th. The 24th rolls around, and we haven't seen a plow yet. We're just getting doublespeak from Public Works."

To make matters worse, a Public Works employee tried to stop the contractors Tuesday, telling them they weren't allowed to plow city streets, Sadwith said.

"That was the irony of the whole thing," he said. "They won't come out and do it, but they don't want to let us do it."

Around the same time Tuesday, Mayor John Hickenlooper told City Council members that he wanted to abolish a rule requiring private contractors to pull a permit to clear city right of way.

"The change will be that a permit will not be required," said Sue Cobb, a spokeswoman for the mayor. "But there will probably be some minimum requirements and certainly a contractor is liable if they bump something or do damage."

Johnson, whose district includes Crestmoor Park, said the employee who tried to stop the work didn't know about the proposed change.

"This employee was out in the field, and heaven forbid he should be watching Channel 8 (city government's cable channel) during work hours, so how would he know?" Johnson said, laughing.

When Sadwith told Johnson about the hold- up, she said City Attorney Larry Manzanares called the employee directly to inform him of the looming change.

Before Manzanares got involved, Sadwith said he told the contractors to keep working and that he would pay any fines.

Sadwith compared the deep ruts on his neighborhood streets to an amusement park ride.

"It was like when you get on those boats and you know you're not really steering the boat because it's in a track that's taking you," he said. "When somebody's coming, you can't get out of it, and they can't get out of it."

Public Works Manager Bill Vidal said he's not opposed to citizens hiring private contractors to remove ice and snow.

"We certainly haven't been able to do every street, and people are dissatisfied with that," Vidal added. "I think we've been trying to address priorities as best we can with the resources that we have. This certainly helps."

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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