Why is the street torn up along Ann Street at Edgemont Street?
That’s what locals were asking last week when they reached out to Star for answers.
“It’s a mess. The people who live on the street can’t open their windows because of all the dust,” said Bill Reinert, a Port Richmond resident.
According to Reinert and others on the block, the street along Ann has been torn up for at least three months.
The block is lined with plastic piping, orange traffic cones and white barriers, and a thin layer of brown dust can be seen throughout the area, caking sidewalks and covering windows on local homes.
“You oughta see me. I’m cleaning 20 times a day in here,” said a bartender — who asked to remain anonymous — at Fasone’s Sports Bar and Grill at the intersection of Edgemont and Ann streets.
Opening the door to the bar, she pointed to the brown shoeprints that covered the sidewalk and led into the door of the bar.
Reinert agreed.
“Nobody wants to come in there because of all the dust,” he said. “It’s got to be hurting business.”
Contacted Monday, June 11, John DiGiulio, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Water Department, said the construction along Ann at Edgemont streets looked to be part of a project that will not be completed until May of next year.
He said that between now and then there will be ongoing repairs to water and sewer pipes on Mercer Street between Allegheny Avenue and Westmoreland Street, Monmouth Street between Edgemont and Salmon streets, Webb Street between Madison and Westmoreland streets and Indiana Avenue between Almond and Edgemont Streets.
Asked just when the residents of the 2500 block of Ann Street might see work there completed, he estimated that work crews could finish in a matter of weeks before moving on to the other local areas that are slated for repairs.
Star Staff Reporter Hayden Mitman can be contacted at 215–354–3124 or hmitman@bsmphilly.com.
