Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,

This administration has known about the sewer problem and instead of ensuring that it be repaired, they invited developers to add more sewerage to an antiquated and badly deteriorated system.

Cambridge got an upgrade over the past several years. I was effected by a broken sewer pipe about 20 years ago. I called a local drain company who told me the problem was on the street and to call the city. Guess what? They didn’t want to pay for it and expected me to fix the problem even though it was not my obligation. It’s a long story, but in the end, they did a quick fix because the collapsed chimney, would cost too much money to repair so they rerouted my sewer pipe to a neighbors chimney. There are at least 5 neighbors who have had repeated flooding in their basements of sewerage. The way they took care of my complaints about their neglect was to hike my water bill from $800 to $1700, one quarter, they said my water spiked but that was incorrect. I had my plumber check it out and he said the pitch was off on our street, that Cambridge knew they needed to do the work because of all the new condo building. Somerville was already over capacity, yet they allowed developers to tie-into existing pipe lines instead of re-building. It’s all about the money and we must be asking where it’s all going because it’s certainly not going where it’s needed. Some of us got to tell our stories at city hall during a closed meeting. It was deer in the headlights by the council when they heard what I had to say. I was no way going to pay for something that was not my responsibility. Obviously, they don’t like it when we tell them what their job entails. Who knows how much of a mess they created here! The director who retired took an exit claiming retirement after only several years. He wanted the name of my plumber. LOL…. No way. DPW was useless. They wanted me to give up names of my neighbors who complained of sewerage odors in their basement then said they would be heavily fined if they didn’t pull permits. Let me tell you, it’s like living in a fascist state here! We pay multi-millions in annual taxes each year while they only take care of their donors. We are on our own!