A North Park business owner is fed up with what she says has been a two-year water leak saga.
Water is leaking inside and outside the building Carol Shamon bought with her life savings in 2008.
There were no problems until 2017 when she says the City of San Diego put new pipes in the street in front of her building. That’s when she started noticing leaking water.
“It wasn’t leaking through yet, but it was coming into the basement,” she said.
Shamon says tenants who rented the basement as an art studio had to leave. She bought a pump and fixed the water damage with her own money and then new tenants moved in.
Shamon asked the city for help, but the city blamed the contractor it hired to put in the new pipes. The contractor didn’t take responsibility either.
Then matters got worse.
Local
A flood on Idaho Street, the next street over, last October flooded her basement and caused more damaged. This time, the flooding was caused by broken city pipes.
The city did take responsibility for that mess, but her second set of tenants had to move out. She says she cannot fix the basement again until the leak from two years ago is repaired. In March of this year, the city “trenched in front of my house, they found a cut pipe and an old French drain,” she said.
According to Shamon, the city crew told her they thought they had found the problem and would be back the next day after contacting San Diego Gas and Electric. Shamon says no one came back.
Meantime, Shamon pays utilities to run a fan and a dehumidifier in her building. She worries about what's happening to the foundation, “but it's mostly the feeling of nobody helping,” she said.
“I’m a really patient person, I’m a nice person so I can’t say I’m angry. I’m just really frustrated because I know eventually it will get solved, it’s just amazing it’s been a two-year ordeal.
Shamon made phone calls, sent emails and filed claims. Now she’s hired a lawyer to file suit.
A spokesperson for the city said the city “does not comment on pending claims that could become the subject of litigation.”
