City’s fix for a hazardous hole is on verge of collapse
An open pipe in a busy sidewalk was quickly filled by the city to keep people from tripping over it, but the asphalt patch is already collapsing. One column last week was about an open pipe surrounded by sharp-edged bricks in the sidewalk at Bayview Avenue and Lawren Harris Square, right across the street from Corktown Common Park. Who knows what the open pipe, about six inches in diameter, connects to? Not me. But it was definitely a problem for people who didn’t see it and could step into it.
Workers were quickly dispatched to fill the hole after I reported it to the city, which included a missing paver brick that left the edges of surrounding brick exposed to the feet of pedestrians.
But when I returned Wednesday, the asphalt was already collapsing into the open pipe. Whoever applied it clearly didn’t give much thought to capping the pipe or stuffing it with something to keep the asphalt on top of it, instead of falling into it.
I’ve asked the city to please go back and do it right.
Last week, I also reported on a telecom equipment box on Havenview Road that was missing its lid and had been co-opted as a garbage can by the locals, who stuffed it full of trash.
Rogers, who owns the damaged box, said it would sent someone right away to remove the garbage and repair it. But the workers went one step further when they arrived to take a look.
Manoj Dave, who first told me about it, emailed Tuesday to say the box had been taken away, an indication that the wires in it had been disconnected and it hadn’t been in service in a long time.
Last Boxing Day, my column was about two unwelcome utility poles at either end of a crosswalk on Davisville Avenue, between Yonge Street and Mt. Pleasant Road.
The poles were decommissioned several years ago by Toronto Hydro, but continued to occupy prime real estate, right at the point where people step into the street or out of the crosswalk.
Toronto Hydro said it would remove the poles, but it likely wouldn’t happen for a while. That was bang-on. Ken Burford, who first told me about it, emailed last week to say they had finally been removed.