Girl Falls Down Sewer In SW Philadelphia

Authorities said Monday a 12-year-old girl fell down a sewer in southwest Philadelphia.

[Maria Merlino]

Hundreds of manhole covers have been stolen in this area. Plywood and a tire is the best The Water Department can do?

[Lou]

Right...put plywood and a tire over the opening to keep other children from falling in? Plywood and a tire? Yeah...that'll work. Why not another manhole cover??? Now watch some idiot crash into the tire and plywood and sue the city...

Great thinking, guys!

And some rapper is probably wearing the manhole cover on a chain around his neck...

[Tammy]

There's one missing at my corner. PWD laid the small barricade things over it and placed cones there, and at least 2 of the barricade things fell into it. I would have preferred the plywood, though I am glad that at least here they were smart enough to use cones to indicate the hole instead of a tire. This is just ridiculous. Hopefully they won't wait for someone else to get hurt and try to remedy the problem.

[Please]

Don't blame the City, Thank the drug addicts and welfare abusers for stealing them and selling them for scrap.

[Maria Merlino]

Please wrote:

Don't blame the City, Thank the drug addicts and welfare abusers for stealing them and selling them for scrap.

This is an emergency situation that the City should have taken care of as soon as it started. As far as who the culprits might be, for sure it is irresponsible and greedy scrap metal dealers.

[Maria Merlino]

This man won $18 million dollars after he fell into an open manhole and broke his back:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/15975...

[Drew]

I saw a news story last week about this. The city is trying to lock the manhole covers down, but this will take time due to the amount of manhole covers there are in the city.
I feel sorry for the girl and hope she wasn't hurt too bad. But lets face it, she was in a sewer the minute she entered Philadelphia!!!

[PWD]

Maria Merlino wrote:

Hundreds of manhole covers have been stolen in this area. Plywood and a tire is the best The Water Department can do?

Why don't you give PWD a chance to respond before you trash us. And ,as posted before, don't blame the city, blame the POS drug addicts and low lifes that steal and sell them. There is no manpower to babysit every manhole and inlet in the city.

[Mari]

Well, I'll be different here. I am glad to hear that the 12-year-old was saved from the frightening fall. I hope she makes a speedy recovery.

[PhillyProud]

Drew wrote:

I saw a news story last week about this. The city is trying to lock the manhole covers down, but this will take time due to the amount of manhole covers there are in the city.
I feel sorry for the girl and hope she wasn't hurt too bad. But lets face it, she was in a sewer the minute she entered Philadelphia!!!

Well spoken from that deep and dirty hole, New Jersey.

[R McDonald]

10 years ago, if you were to tell me people were stealing manhole covers, i wouldn't have believed you.
I'm so sick of drug addicts, and i blame THEM for their conditions. it's because of them the city is screwed up. I CAN'T STAND DRUG ADDICTS AND THEIR P.O.S. DEALERS!!!

[ExSWP]

PhillyProud wrote:

<quoted text>
Well spoken from that deep and dirty hole, New Jersey.

I used to live on that street and now live in Jersey. While I wish things may have been different, that part of the city is more of a sewer now than Jersey will ever be. If you lived there now you wouldn't be so proud.

[Leland Bellows]

Plywood and a tire!

Why not just put up a piece of cardboard with the words "Do Not Fall" written in magic marker? That would be just as effective.

[Jersey Girl]

How about going after the scrap metal dealers that accept the manhole covers . . . the city went after the dealers a few years ago when people started stealing chain link fences and posts and also screen doors . . . stop the cash flow AND the thefts will stop. NO BRAINER HERE . . .

[jERZYGRL]

How about the scrap yards calling the police when someone shows up with a man hole cover??? That would be too smart.

[PhillyProud]

ExSWP wrote:

<quoted text>
I used to live on that street and now live in Jersey. While I wish things may have been different, that part of the city is more of a sewer now than Jersey will ever be. If you lived there now you wouldn't be so proud.

I don't live in that part of the city either...I just get so tired of people bashing Philly just for the sake of doing it...we may have really sad and unkempt areas in this city, but just as in any large city there are also beautiful areas where people take pride in their homes and neighborhoods, they don't destroy them just for the sake of doing it...the news media never shows us any of that because it doesn't make as "good" a news story as the crime and blight of the city does. How sad for those of us all throughout the various neighborhoods in this great city who are diligent in keeping our areas clean and safe to constantly hear the "beat-downs" from people in surrounding citys who have no inkling that there really are such lovely parts to our city. Take a ride through the other sections of the city, I swear, you'd see that there really are some good and decent people and places that we are really proud to call home!

[Kelly78]

the dopers are stealing the covers to sell for scrap

[anthony]

sw phiy..once a proud clean neighborhood.,, now its the top ranked place to die...way to go people...now lets blame it on everyone else but the people who turned this into a shit hole.....they should place a man hole cover over all of it...

[Kelly78]

hahahaha right on philly

PhillyProud wrote:

<quoted text>
Well spoken from that deep and dirty hole, New Jersey.

[Lost Dutchman]

It's all Geaorge Bush's fault!! We need CHANGE America!