Pot-holed and sewer-less Lohengrin Place is set to join the rest of Country Club on the city map. Thanks in part to Country Club resident Frank Menillo, the city plans to dedicate Lohengrin Place between Rawlins Avenue and Parsifal Place. It has suffered from disrepair for decades because city Department of Transportation will only reconstruct city-owned streets.
Lohengrin Place is a public street but was never added to the city map. Even Menillo, who’s lived on the corner of Lohengrin Place and Rawlins Avenue for 52 years, has no idea why.
“The street is in deplorable condition,” he said.
Lohengrin Place has no curbs and almost no pavement. Menillo took Councilman James Vacca to inspect the street some six years ago. Vacca asked DOT to perform repairs but was told no.
“Even when a water main breaks on an undedicated city street, the people on the block are responsible for it,” Vacca explained.
To dedicate a street, the city requires that all its residents sign a petition. As for the residents of Lohengrin Place, Menillo and members of the Country Club Civic Association had to persuade them.
Not all the residents of Lohengrin Place between Parsifal Place and Country Club Road signed but all those between Rawlins Avenue and Parsifal Place did. Vacca had the borough president’s office submit the case to the city. The councilman expects a dedication soon. He helped to dedicate a handful of streets in Schuyler Hill and Valhalla Drive in Country Club in the 1990s. Valhalla Drive was also repaved.
“It made a world of difference on Valhalla Drive,” Vacca said.
Menillo is a self-described “cynic” and won’t celebrate until he sees the updated map but Lohengrin Place resident Carolo Boiano applauded the news. Boiano’s house is one of three on the street not connected to the sewer system.
“The street has bumps and holes,” he said. “It needs to be paved.”
Lohengrin Place will probably be repaved in 2010, a DOT spokesman said. Vacca thanked Menillo for his efforts.
