In an unexpected move, the City of Mertzon earlier this week closed W. Fleming Ave from 3rd to 4th Street to begin blading the street to remove what is now multiple years worth of sediment originating from the Irion County ISD campus. I first began railing against the District's sediment from stormwater runoff landing on Fleming Ave as long ago as 2016, when the paved skirts around the new tennis courts were washing gravel into the street.
And, I opposed the 2019 bond and new gym largely because of the flooding it would cause on Fleming and all points below. These efforts by the City this week show that I was, well, correct! Huge loads of gravel and dirt sediment are being removed by the City.
This week I met with Superintendent Moore and have exchanged emails with Mayor Stewart about the situation. If one relies on MLK's quote, "...the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" as I necessarily have had to do to save my home, you might have in your bank of protests a long ago statement condemning the injustice you are being plagued by.
I did, and here it is, my September 2020 statement to the Irion County ISD school board about flooding from the bond construction.
And, here is the email I sent this week about that statement to Superintendent Moore, Board President Maegin Carlile, Mayor Aubrey Stewart and City Manager Michelle Wardlaw.
To put a point on my communications with Superintendent Moore and Mayor Stewart earlier this week, attached are my comments to the Board on September 21, 2020. Among other things, I used this presentation at the time to show that construction gravel was traveling down 4th Street to Fleming and that the football field was being flooded by the same water.
I had the 3 exhibits made up on large foam board, and I stopped speaking during my presentation to show each exhibit to the entire room. Then, at the end of the presentation, I gave a copy of the document I have attached to Superintendent DeSpain, each board member, Jeff Potter (architect) and the WBK representative present at that meeting. Everyone had personal knowledge.
No one ever responded to me, and these comments prompted no one to clean up the streets. Moreover, it prompted no one to reconsider the stormwater impact of the new gym, which was just starting construction at the time. It astounds me that so many people, presumably the leaders of our community, chose to do nothing. I don't know what else I possibly could have done to make a point that terrible decisions were being made.
The City should stand up to the District and not clean up after its messes. To continue cleaning up after it, like it did this week by scraping and removing the build up on the shoulder of Fleming in front of my property, promotes irresponsible growth by the District and increases everyone's taxes.
Of course, the City can't continue to ignore the terribly unsafe condition of Fleming Ave. But, the District needs to acknowledge the damage it is doing to our community by outright ignoring the impact of stormwater runoff from the campus. And, that damage was largely started by the advocacy of those who favored moving the proposed new gym from its agreed upon location on 2nd and Juanita to its current location on 4th and Fayette. See item 4 below for the names of all who favored the 4th Street location. This document is the minutes of a pivotal August 3, 2020 special board meeting (only the month before my comments to the Board above), when District leadership pulled out the stops to reverse the City's refusal to close 4th Street for the gym:
"I would rather rely on Mother Nature's wisdom than on man's cleverness," is an apropos quote by Wendell Berry. The District's leaders were undoubtedly being very clever to get what they wanted at that meeting, but Mother Nature has spoken and will continue to speak. Her wisdom here is simple enough. Rain water flows downhill, and it gives no special consideration for avoiding streets...or football fields, for that matter.
Copyright 2023 G Noelke