Friday, March 14, 2008

The Hole in the Wall Gang

It all started when Lowe's decided to build a new home store in our neighboring community. The spot they picked was a ravine that needed to be filled in. It was. But there was a small community just to one side of the new Lowe's site. Lowe's had a huge wall of compacted dirt facing the community. They covered the wall with stone facing.

But then . . . the wall began to collapse.






One home sits facing the wall, only feet away from a huge grey wall. Previously, the homeowner had a view of a small creek and trees on a hillside. After considerable complaining, Lowe's bought the house from him.


A security car now sits in the driveway of that house. The guy in it told me there had been some movement at the edge of both of the holes even today.


The folks from Lowe's and the city have been talking, and talking, and talking about repairing the wall for months now. They say the problem was caused by some kind of moisture build up behind the facing. It appears the entire wall will now have to be torn down and rebuilt.

There was a lot of angry talk and letters to the editor in the local newspaper calling for a boycott of the Lowe's store. While some people are honoring that and shopping elsewhere, the parking lot at the store is never empty

Meantime, the scars in the wall get uglier, day by day. And the homeowners in the nearby development lose sleep at night, wondering if the entire wall will let loose and come down on their homes.

7 comments:

  1. Cat-A -- your pictures show the great hole in the wall to look even worse than the last batch it saw. Has the Daily Disappointment stopped reporting each time another section of wall falls? Just incidentally, yours are the best pictures I've seen of the entire bloody affair.

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  2. I had the same impression when SWMBO and I went by a week ago. It is much worse than the Daily Disappointment shows.

    But, I feel that the wall won't fall onto any homes. I think.

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  3. That is a terrible thing, to live not knowing if it will crumble onto your house.
    Things like that go on the world over, because some idiot who should know better, doesn't. It should have been better researched before being built, surely?

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  4. This does not bode well for Lowe's landscaping department. Remind me never to have them build a wall for me.

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  5. :-O Gosh how awful ... not knowing whether that huge wall is going to come tumbling down or not. Surely they need to be ordered to take it down sooner rather than later? x

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  6. definitely the best pics I have seen of the gaping hole. I love the security car in the driveway. :)

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  7. Meggie - Well, one would think so!

    Mike - Good point!

    Kitty - There's a new mayor in town and no one seems to want to take charge.

    Tombo - Yes, and I believe they are there 24 hours a day.

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