Homeowner Jay Himmelman is on a mission to find out why the hillside behind his Valley View Neighborhood home is giving way. We’ve reported several times about the plight of Himmelman and his neighbors, who face the loss of their yards, homes and property values.
He sent me some photos he took Wednesday near the bottom of the hillside that show how quickly water is shooting out of a drain pipe near the hillside. He wrote me: “It is my opinion that the root cause of the ravine failure is the creek washing away the toe of the slope, the event possibly augmented by excessive water going under our houses (water coming from above our houses). I think this (ravine failure) has been slowly happening since 1968 (when they put in the roads/drains) and was most likely ramped up a few notches when the city increased the drainwater outlet pipe (top of creek) from 18″ to 30″ (2006?).”
He kindly said I could share his photos.
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