Category: Save the Ditch Letters

To Council:

I hope you all heard about the overflow turnout for the meeting at SOU where the Canal Pipe Project team gave their presentation and local taxpayers voiced myriad points of opposition to the project. After the project team presentation, a show of hands resulted in fewer than one-half dozen attendees “in-favor” and well over one hundred “opposed”! Besides the fact, that even if piped, E-coli will continue to flow, unrestricted, into the 2 mile City stretch of TID canal, water loss can be reduced by repairing the canal, at a much lower taxpayer cost. The destruction of property, loss of privacy, damage to property values and disturbance of neighborhoods along the TID canal route can also be reduced tremendously by choosing an alternate fix to the canal. The estimated $3.1 M dollars to complete this project does not include final landscaping of private property, the already incurred “study” cost of over $200K and the potential costs of lawsuits filed by property owners for devalued and disfigured property. Property taxes and utility rates have grown at an exponential rate over the past few years and are beginning to pose a burden on all but the most affluent of Ashland Citizens. We, as a City, have many more pressing and unfunded problems to meet in the next few years. Please do not accept as ‘gospel’, the highly manipulated talking points put forward by the TID Canal Pipe Project team and realize that citizen concerns are well-thought and heartfelt.

Regards, John Hauschild

I’m not sure if it’s a trend or a habit or a philosophy, but the city is proposing a lot of expensive projects recently without presenting a basic maintenance option.

The three City Hall proposals are: (1) All-new City Hall in the Plaza — $12 million. (2) Turn Briscoe School into City Hall — $15 million. (3) Civic Center City Hall near the police station — $19 million.

The three Ashland Canal proposals are: (1) Remove the entire ditch and build a new ditch — $2.4 million. (2) Pipe and cover every exposed ditch — $3.1 million. (3) Pipe every inch beginning to end — $4.6 million.

Repair and maintenance don’t seem to be in the conversation lately.

I liken it to someone bringing their van in for repairs and going to the dealer. But the dealer is now selling Teslas. And all the salespeople descend with all the great Tesla options. And they offer three differently priced models for sale. And they are all good people and really believe in the Tesla, but

You just brought in your van to fix a leak. You don’t have the money for a Tesla. Teslas are nice. But you love your van. You just want to fix your van. Maybe, you’d consider a solar panel on the roof? But the salespeople believe that you don’t understand how old your van is and how important a new Tesla is.

In Ashland, most of us are here because we love an old van. And we want to keep it running for the memories it holds. And we’d overpay for repairs for the charming old van because it’d still be way cheaper than that new Tesla.

So let’s focus more on redesigning the old City Hall (which is a great old van that does need a lot of work), and aggressively repairing the Ashland Canal (because that thing is indeed leaking all over the driveway).

Repairing rather than replacing these cherished city landmarks doesn’t just save money, it shows our community’s commitment to something money can’t buy: Ashland’s character.

Jim Falkenstein

Ashland

I urge the City Council to adopt alternative 4 for the canal project. None of the other alternatives are appropriate, all of them cost far too much, and all provide far too little benefit.

Alternative 4 is not to do “nothing,” but to maintain the canal properly. This has clearly not been done in recent years, and is why we are facing this choice today.

The piping will only improve the e. coli entering Ashland Creek from the canal by about 20 percent based upon the latest testing. Reducing e. coli is a laudable goal, but piping is an extremely ineffective way to combat it. Most of the e. coli in the canal originates upstream from this project, and will not be affected.

Evaporation over the two-mile portion of the canal under consideration is minimal, and is not an issue.

Seepage is an important issue, but it should be addressed by ongoing annual maintenance. Most of the seepage can be eliminated by patching at a far lower cost.

The canal is in terrible shape. That is only because adequate maintenance has not been performed for many years. This is a problem of our own making. We can correct this problem easily at low cost. Repair, don’t replace.

Construction will be horribly disruptive to anyone who lives near the canal. And the loss of trees proposed is egregious. The argument that they will all die anyway is bogus. Some will die sooner, some later, but they will not all die immediately. Many will survive, perhaps exhibiting less vigorous growth, but many will adapt.

It is guaranteed that the council will encounter strong pushback from some of the property owners along the canal, and with good reason. The legal defense of this project is another cost that has not been considered.

It was apparent at the last community meeting that the vast majority of attendees were opposed to the piping project. Council members should respect the wishes of their constituents, show fiscal responsibility, choose alternative 4, and direct Public Works to maintain the canal properly!

Dean Silver

Ashland