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WOWT CHANNEL 6

Sewer Project Causes Sinkhole
Resident's basement floods, city blames contractor

An elderly Omaha woman claims taxpayers didn't get their money's worth on a sewer project right outside her front door. The ground around the new storm sewer is sinking.

When 83-year-old Hazel Green walks out her door, she gets a sinking feeling that somebody might get hurt. She says that since a contractor hired by the city put in a new storm sewer, her front yard along north 42nd Street near Paxton Boulevard has sunk. "It's scary to me down in there." Hazel said a work crew came out about a month ago and placed warning barricades in the hole, but that's not enough for her. "It just keeps coming back. It gets lower and lower. It's dangerous." The sidewalk the taxpayers paid for last year is undermined and breaking. "Taxpayers didn't get their moneys worth out of this job," said Hazel's son Marcellus Green. "They did it twice, it caved in."

Hazel not only wants the hazard in her front yard filled in, she wants taxpayers to reimburse her for a flooded basement she believes was caused by this sinkhole. Hazel can file a claim, though the city engineer said it's not the city's fault, but the contractor's. The city has sent WBE a demand letter to make about 20 repairs on the Paxton Sewer Project within 10 days. If that deadline isn't met, money could be deducted from the final payment on the project and a new contractor hired. "They are responsible," said city engineer Hank Vieregger. "If they don't, the city will have to find ways to ensure the work does get done. We're not going to leave the situation as it stands."

Hazel says she and her neighbors appreciate the city installing new sewers in their neighborhood, but as a taxpayer she's concerned about the money the city has sunk into this part of the project. The city engineer said the contractor's bonding company is working with the city to resolve the repair issue on Paxton Boulevard. Six On Your Side was not able to contact the contractor.