Seeking help from the county on state of San Manuel alleys

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An Open Letter to Supervisor Pete Rios: Some residents of San Manuel have been in town since its inception in the 1950’s; others not as long. Most remember either Magma or PInal County maintaining our roads, medians and alleys during the time, until recently. As recently as last year they repaired severe storm damage to an alley in the 600 block of 6th Ave.

County officials are now telling us that the county will no longer maintain our alleys and that it is the responsibility of the individual homeowners, although some long time residents believe

their property ends before the alley. Since homeowners do not own earth-moving equipment, this job would have to be hired out; something most individuals cannot afford. And, unless all the residents on a particular street got together to pay for the entire alley to be repaired, it would be senseless for one or even two residents to pay for their section of the alley, leaving the rest in its rutted, potholed condition.

We do not see this as a viable option to this problem and hope that you can offer us some assistance in this matter. We greatly appreciate Pinal County repairing the damage to our asphalted streets after two devastating monsoon storms this summer; but we feel they also need to repair our alleys that were damaged during these same storms.

After calling Pinal County and being told that the alleys were utility right of ways, not public right of ways or thoroughfares, one homeowner was told their part of the alley could be fenced! Since they own both properties on either side of the alley, the entire alley could be fenced off, preventing anyone from traveling there. This might be fine to stop the nuisance of loud ATVs and motorbikes, but, that’s not acceptable for the utility vehicles that need to travel these alleys to maintain equipment and read meters. If the county is not going to regulate and maintain our alleys, there could be real trouble in our community.

Waste Management, the primary waste disposal company for San Manuel, has notified some

homeowners that they will no longer pick up the trash bins from the alley but everyone

now needs to put them out by the curb for street pickup. This has already created problems since some people put their bins on the narrow sidewalks, forcing walkers into the streets, and some people put them in the street, causing parking problems. Several are just left in the street. lying on their sides after garbage pickup! Since garbage pickup is on two different days, and people put the bins out a day early, there are garbage containers on our sidewalks and streets for four days a week.

This is not an attractive sight for our aesthetically-challenged town. This new policy has made it very difficult for many who do not have easy access to their front area from the rear of their property. Again, trash has been picked up from the alleys since the town’s creation and many feel this is the appropriate location for this to happen. If only the county would repair the storm damage to our alleys, this might again be a possibility. We are asking for some help with this

from our supervisor, Pete Rios.

Mr. Rios needs to know that the alleys are in such bad shape that several people now have no access to their back yard by vehicle, and have cars and RV’s stuck inside their back yards due to a 2” drop off to their alley. What will happen when an emergency vehicle cannot get to their needed location due to the impossibility of the alleys? Whose fault will that be? Please help us, Mr.Rios!

Thank you,

(The undersigned are all homeowners, business owners, residents, taxpayers, and voters

of San Manuel.)/s/ Michelle Smith, Ralph L. Perez, Diana R. Perault, Cynthia Tripp, Gilbert H. Montiel, Floyd L. Smith, Marlene A. Madrid, Cathleen Marler, Jon M. Hudson, Michael T. Dedrick, Richard Henderson, Mary Madrid, Gloria Henderson, Hilario C. Madrid, Lupe C. Madrid, Stephanie MarlerEditor’s Note: Some of the signatures were hard to read. We have included the ones we could interpret. If we have left your name off as one of the signors or if your name is misspelled, it was unintentional.

Staff (5796 Posts)

There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.


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