By reporter Steven Smalley
For the last eight years, homeowner Caesar Castro has lived across the street from Marionwood Apartments at 24th & West Manor Place. During that entire time he has seen water from the landscaped hillside turn the nearby street into a non-stop stream. The constant flow is especially troubling this time of year when temperatures drop below freezing and the creek ices up to transform the hilly street into a skating rink.
?We have complained to the city about this. They come over and check it out, and it?s ?brown water,? Castro explains. ?I think it?s drainage from somewhere. It?s very dangerous.? Continuing, he reveals, ?Cars coming down the hill don?t realize it?s icy down here, and they crash over in that corner.?
Magnolia Voice spent a few minutes in the frozen intersection talking to neighbors. The comments were numerous and had the same theme, ?It?s very dangerous,? says a driver. ?I have two kids, and I think they should do something. It?s a hazard.?
?It?s a scary nightmare,? says another driver. ?Somebody?s eventually going to get hurt.?
A phone call by Magnolia Voice to the apartment complex located the manager who didn?t have much to say, ?A contractor is supposed to be fixing it with the City of Seattle.?
The manager confessed he did not know the name of the owner. An attempt by Magnolia Voice to speak with the owner?s agent was unsuccessful.
In the meantime, complaining neighbors kept singing the same tune, ?It?s scary. I?m afraid I?m going to get in car wreck,? confessed a woman.
On her way back from Lawton School, Jennifer Savage-Crane made a point to stop her car and talk.
?All of that is just a sheet of ice,? she said. She then implored the property owner to, ?Please take care of the excess water so no one gets hurt.?
A man going to work in his pickup summed it up, ?Something bad is going to happen on this corner. It?s not safe.?