NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — A sinkhole that started as a sewer project in New Kensington four months ago is now growing in size, and so is the concern from neighbors.
Vince Davis’s property is right in front of the large hole in Moss Alley.
“They hired a contractor to fix it. Well, the homeowner paid almost $10,000 to have a hole dug, and then the contractor stopped,” Davis said. “It’s an open sewer and it’s filling with water. It was originally 13 feet deep and now it’s toxic water, so it’s bad.”
Tasha Williams is a neighbor to the property. She said she’s worried about the kids who play in the alley.
“It’s horrible. There’s a lot of kids right here that play. The hole is just another thing on top of the rats. The garbage can’t get picked up like it’s horrible,” Williams said.
Vince tells Channel 11 that the hole is now 14 x 12′, but what you don’t see on the surface is what’s happening below the bricks. Undermining is taking away the foundation that’s going into Vince’s property.
“We’ve left messages with the city, with the city engineer and none of them call us back and it’s just frustrating,” Vince said.
Channel 11 went to the city to get answers. City Engineer Tony Males tells us the Department of Public Health has declared the property a public nuisance. This now allows the city to collect bids on the project.
“We have received one bid, but it was extremely over budget,” Males said. “We are working hard to solicit other bids so we can get this repaired in a reasonable but timely fashion.”
Channel 11 asked why the neighbors’ messages have gone unanswered.
“I’ve talked to several neighbors in there,” Males said. “At least a half a dozen times to neighbors, but unfortunately, we don’t have anything to share at this time.”
Since garbage trucks can no longer drive on the road, the city is now asking neighbors to put their trash in the front yard.
With summer temperatures on the horizon, Vince and his neighbors are eager to see action.
“Last week when it was 78 degrees out here, it’s 100 percent worse,” Vince said.
And as neighbors wait for help, they just hope that no one gets hurt.
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