I moved into my house at 285 Willow Road in 1998. Since then, I’ve had
to entirely replace my sewer line twice, and now it has to be replaced
again. In addition, the part of the line under Willow Road is broken
and severely displaced in several places. Such conditions are common on
Willow Road.
The main reason for the problems is that there is very little slope
between the house and the main line: no matter how many times I replace
the line, water will back up and the line will rapidly deteriorate.
Today, West Bay Sanitary was out here, and said that the main line
itself runs slowly, because it is too small and has too little slope.
This contributes to backups into the houses.
Menlo Park, unlike most other Bay Area cities (including all of San
Jose), does not service sewer lines from the service connection to the
main line; that is, the part under the road. In the case of Willow
Road, the extreme traffic is certainly responsible for much of the
deterioration of the sewer pipes running under the road.
It is unconscionable that the residents of Willow Road, who already must
endure the city funneling all possible traffic onto Willow Road instead
of distributing it more equitably, must also be responsible for sewer
damage caused by the heavy traffic and the poor condition of the main
sewer line.
Now is the time for the city to replace the ancient sewer lines on
Willow Road with larger, deeper lines that can serve the present
population density, as well to replace all the lateral lines to all the
buildings along Willow Road. If this work is not done, I and other
property owners will be forced to spend thousands to tens of thousands
of dollars every few years to deal with a situation beyond our control,
a situation of the city’s making.
The hundreds of residents of Willow Road pay the same taxes as all other
Menlo Park residents, but we have long been treated as second-class
citizens. The city must now do something to help us with the basic
necessity of a working sewer system. If a city cannot do at least that,
it represents a serious failure of government.
Thank you very much for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Lawrence R. Bernstein
285 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel.: 650-799-5616
Email: LawrenceRBernstein@gmail.com
