Why I Oughta...

If you get a chance, take a walk by the Elmhurst Police Station on First Street and get a view of a newly installed/created 'demonstration rain garden' that they've recently built out front.  As of the past few days, the construction fence was still up around the project, but it appears that all of the work is complete and now they're just wrapping up the project.  The City of Elmhurst is - kind of - putting their money where their mouth is on this.  I say 'kind of' because they, ummm, didn't use their own money I don't think; they got a grant.  Details on the garden can be found here on the Elmhurst Storm Water Plan site  where they describe the project: The Project Involves the construction and maintenance of a rain garden, sized between 800 and 1,200 square feet, to include an engineered soil mix to promote infiltration, as well as a variety of native shrubs, grasses, and forbs, immediately south of the Police Station. The goal is to reduce

Yesterday we had "The Storm that Wasn't" in Elmhurst.  Seems like every time the Chicago area gets warned about a major storm, we in Elmhurst always feels the impact.  Except, it seems, yesterday. The City went beyond the normal measures it seems as I came across this pile of sand and box of sandbags in the parking lot at City Hall this am.  From the looks of the pile, it appears that some residents *actually* used this stuff.  Based on what we experienced at our house, they didn't need it. But, kudos to the City for going this extra mile for residents.  Now...if they could only solve the real problem that is causing flooding/basement backups, etc?  Yeah...that'd be great.

This is the main route around Downtown Elmhurst.  As you can tell...it is un-passable.  The last time I spotted the Palmer Underpass in Elmhurst flooded was back in July of 2010.   Here's the photo of that flood . Can't tell, but I *think* this time the water is higher than back in 2010.