The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-12
ROW OVER FLOODS
East Side improvement Assn
Wants on City Commission.
Hancock Says They Turned
Down Solution of Drainage.

The East Side Improvement associa-
ton is seeking representation on the
city commission as a means of getting
protection against flood danger and
solution of the drainage problem
which is serious in that section of the
city
At a meeting of the association held
Thursday night at the East Side
Methodist church. it was determined
that a member of the organization
would be supported in the next city
election for the position of CITY COM
missioner of streets and public i'm
proEements. and that if no member of
the association would be a candidate,
the association would support some
other man who would make a definite
pledge to attack the drainage problem.
The members of the East Side I'm
provefnent association believe that
they can poll 5000 votes in favor of
Mne candidate that they officially sup
port.
Turned Down a Solution.
THE East side turned down a soIu-
ton of their drainage problem a year
ego, W 5. Hancock, city commits
sioner OF streets and public improve
ments, said today in discussing the at
Htude of the association. And two
years ago they selected a candidate
from their Gwn association to run for
the office of commissioner. of streets
and public improvements. He was the
low man in the race.
Hancock said. that a year ago he
suggested to the East side residents
that Lafayette street be paved from
Tenth avenue north to Fourth avenue
where II crosses the Shunganunga
Under the state law he would then
have been permitted to construct a
sewer to take care of the flood water
created by the paving at the expense
of the city at large
He offered. he says. to build a
S6-inch sewer down Lafayette street
under the paving. which would have
largely cared for the drainage prob
lem there. and which would not have
y cost the property owners a cent.
strained my authority under the
law a little bit in order to make If A
S6-inch sewer" Hancock said That
would really be bigger than necessary
to care for the flood water created by
the paving. 1t would have been suf-
ncient to care for the drainage prob
lem, with the lateral sewers which L
would have constructed leading into
II, except in cases of floods when no
sewer will care for the water. It was
planned to have the sewer connect
with the spillway at Tenth avenue, and
to help to carry the water in the spill
way, which is a nuisance
Wanted a Box Sewer.
The East side residents wanted me
70 install a box sewer, seven feet by
nlne-something that 1 couldn't do
under the law, and which was not
--E~G19eaA because L COulQn'L
put in the box sewer. they killed the
peuuon for the paving of LAFAYETTE
street which would have enabled me
to put in the thirty-six inch sewer.
Any time they bring me a petition
Tor the construction of a box sewer
seven feet by nine feet, ten feet by
1tteen feet. or a canal thirty feet
wide, I'll be mighty glad to build it
Tor them. But that means that the
property owners will have to stand
the expense The sewer would have
put in if Lafayette street had been
paved, wouldn't have cost them a
cent
I've asked the city planning board
TO make a survey of the drainage
problem over there, and to make rec
concentrations as to the best means of
meeting the problem, and the prob
able cost The report of such a sur
vey will be interesting, to say the
least"
Hancock says that the system of
putting sewers under newly paved
streets at the cost of the city at large
has been applied in South Topeka,
with the result that the problem has
been disposed of there. and that it is
being applied in North Topeka, with
the same results.