SAN ANTONIO — Robert Mendez had a ditch behind his back fence that kept filling up with water every time it rained. He said the ditch only got deeper year after year and was causing a problem for his property.
"The water remains for three, four, or five days until it evaporates but in the meantime it's collecting all the gnats, flies, mosquitoes and rodents," Mendez said. "My grandkids play back here."
Mendez wanted to the City of San Antonio to fill the area with dirt, and level it out so the water would no longer collect there. After several months without a solution he called KENS 5, and KENS asked the City of San Antonio if they could fill that in.
It turned out to be quite complicated.
KENS 5 called and emailed public works multiple times over the course of a month and public works actually sent two crews to the property to try and figure out what the easement was, who was responsible for it, and what could be done with it. One engineer in training told KENS 5 the property could possibly be a utility easement, a drainage easement, or even a private easement connected to another property.
Eventually, the city determined the easement was a "non-service ally" easement. They then informed Mendez it was his job to "maintain" the property. It wasn't the answer Mendez was looking for as he wasn't sure he would be able to fill in the ditch himself.
"Everywhere I go I see dump trucks with dirt that they are pulling out of the ground because they are redoing the streets and sidewalks. I'm like, 'Why can't I have some of that dirt?'" Mendez said.
Still, San Antonio Public Works had also told KENS 5 "The Public Works Department will continue to look at short-term and long-term options for addressing this issue."
Mendez didn't give up either. Instead he contacted San Antonio District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur one more time to see if they were willing to help. He then got a call back.
"She called me back and said someone with the city would be calling me in a couple of weeks. They called last week and the gentleman I spoke with said they'd be coming out," Mendez said.
Of course, Mendez had already called the city multiple times so he wasn't sure what would happen.
Then, around one week later, two city trucks filled with dirt pulled up behind his home.
"Sure enough, they had already started. I'm happy. I'm confident the water isn't going to build up there." Mendez said. "Thanks to councilwoman Kaur for getting it done for me, along with you guys bringing a spot light to it."
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur provided the following statement afterwards:
“Mr. Mendez contacted our office regarding a large ditch behind his home, near the railroad, that fills up with water after it rains. Despite his efforts to find the correct organization to fix this issue, no one would claim responsibility. Our office stepped in to identify and alert the responsible party and were happy to see this issue resolved. Our commitment to advocating for and assisting our D1 residents remains steadfast, and I commend our staff for their dedication to fulfilling every request brought to our attention.”
The City of San Antonio Public Works Department also provided a statement:
"As stated before, the Public Works Department will continue to look into short-term and long-term options for addressing this particular issue. The Department is happy to have found a few options.
In addition to addressing the ponding issue in the near term, the Department has added this particular easement for consideration into its Non-Service Alley Program for future maintenance."
Mendez said, after seeing the amount of dirt the city had to bring in, he wouldn't have been able to fix this issue himself.
"There is no way I could have done this on my own and as quickly as they did it," Mendez said.
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