Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — A Burbank city crew on East Angeleno Avenue, between Glenoaks Boulevard and 3rd Street, fixing some of the potholes created by that brutal week of powerful storms.
City of Burbank work crews were taking care of serious business during the past couple of weeks. They were on the job during and after the recent big storms cleaning up debris, removing downed trees, repairing streets, and solving other weather problems. One major repair job over on Victory Boulevard, between Magnola Boulevard and Olive Avenue, was apparently not really storm related.
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — A giant sinkhole developed at Victory Boulevard and Palm Avenue last weekend.
This past Monday, I drove over the bumpy temporary patch that Burbank city crews put down on top of that huge sinkhole, which split open on Saturday, January 23. The day after, Sunday, I talked with James Truong who is a cook at the Great Wok restaurant at the corner of Clark Avenue and Victory Boulevard. Truong saw a trickle of water turned quickly into a rushing stream along Victory Boulevard Saturday afternoon, when a 12-inch water main broke. Truong says “…the water came up to the back door” of the restaurant, prompting him to scramble outside and move his car to higher ground.
That section of Victory Boulevard, and some of the side streets like Orange Grove Avenue, Clark Avenue, and Palm Avenue were blocked off for a while. By Sunday afternoon, crews were finishing up the heavy duty street clean-up and preparing to restore full water service to the mostly business district.
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — A Burbank Water and Power crewman prepares to turn on the water.
BWP General Manager Ron Davis blamed the main break on “improper construction by an outside contractor,” according to a report on the Burbank Leader website Tuesday, January 26.
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Clean-up underway at Florin’s Auto Repair & Systems Tire, 225 North Victory Boulevard near West Palm Avenue, on Sunday, January 24.
Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Clark Avenue, where it intersects with Victory Boulevard, was still blocked off with yellow tape last Sunday afternoon due to the flooding created by that water main break. By the end of the week, the clean-up was done and very few signs of the problem remained.
At the Burbank City Council meeting last Tuesday, January 26, city activist Mike Nolan, who can passionately and articulately dish out both criticism and praise, singled out the Burbank city crews for some well-deserved verbal high-fives. Later, city council members praised Burbank city crews for their hard work and dedication as well.
