Better Ask Barry: Who’ll stop the ooze?

Despite the medalion that reads “No dumping – Drains to Bay,” a storm drain on Belden Street isn’t exactly draining these days. Instead, it’s oozing the wrong way into the street.

When the water moves, it moves slowly. When it doesn’t, it stagnates into a thick green, algae-filled goo.

Neighbors have a word for it.

“Disgusting,” said one woman. “It’s disgusting, and to me, it has to be unhealthy.”

Belden Street is built on a hill in New Monterey. Residents say they expect occasional runoff, but not from a drain.

“When the fog is there, it sits. The sun can’t dry it, so it just builds and builds and builds.”

Jeff Anderson oversees environmental regualation for the City of Monterey. He says it’s a naturally occuring process: “Naturally occuring ground water, which has leeched into the storm drain and is percolating out of a curb outlet.”

“That’s an interesting word, isn’t it? said Candace, whose mother lives on the street. “Percolating. Percolating funk.”

The city says street sweepers should take care of the problem, but neighbors say sweepers can’t get to the problem area because of parked cars and garbage cans that block the way.

The cars, they say, are from outside the area and belong to people who work nearby on Lighthouse Avenue or Cannery Row.

Given that, homeowners on the block could ask the city to restrict parking through the City of Monterey’s Resident Parking Program.