A Mudslide That Never Should Have Happened

Following up on Hudseen's March 10th post about the expansion of the dirt lot on Washington Street, across from the Firehouse, there has been some activity there recently which should concern us all, including DPW Superintendent Robert Perry.  Last year, I tried to warn City Hall about the reckless expansion of the lot, but no one seemed to care. 

Pipe and stream buried by mudslide

Yesterday, I noticed that a huge portion of the new lot (made of fill and debris, large and small) gave way, coming to rest at the stream and pipe 15-20 feet below which feed Underhill Pond.  A mudslide, essentially, and a big one by Hudson standards.  The open end of the 3 or 4 foot wide pipe is no longer visible -- it is completely buried in mud and debris.  The ponded water at the head of the stream, just beyond the once-exposed end of the pipe, is also no longer visible -- there is nothing but mud and debris there now, with trickles of water struggling to make their way west.

Second, today I noticed fresh truck tire tracks in the lot leading to two fresh-looking piles of rubble, debris and garbage.  It appears that anyone can dump anything they like in the lot.  DPW offices, along with the rest of City Hall, are now located directly across the street in the Firehouse. 

The State DEC has been notified of the mudslide, and, as I was told, they have reached out to our DPW Superintendent.  A DEC officer will likely be paying the site a visit soon.

Call me an alarmist, if you like, but this has the potential to be a huge and expensive mess for DPW.  It is yet another indication (think S. 3rd Street) of DPW's poor planning, leading to costly, preventable mishaps. 

The open end of the outfall pipe, as it is called, was exposed for a reason -- to let water flow properly on its way to Underhill, then to the Hudson River, and beyond.  The outlet of the pipe is not to be covered in, or clogged by, soil or debris, and neither is any portion of the stream.  This is basic Environmental Stewardship 101 stuff.  

Two months ago, the pipe and the stream
were visible from atop the lot.  All of the
fill in the foreground slid into the stream.

Digging the dirt out to expose the pipe and to clear the stream -- to return the area to what it was -- will be a major pain in the tail should it have to happen.   If the DEC tells Mr. Perry it must restore the area, my suggestion is to require Robert Perry to do the shoveling himself.  The expansion of the Washington Street lot was his idea, and it was poorly planned (or not at all planned) and poorly executed, if not in violation of State DEC regulations.  Robert Perry never once mentioned the expansion of the lot at any Council meetings I attended -- neither before, during, nor after the huge amount of fill was dumped there last year.

A reliable source once told me that Robert Perry, DPW Superintendent, does not have an engineering degree.  I was also told that before he became DPW Superintendent, possibly in 2009, it was a requirement for the DPW Superintendent to have an engineering degree.  The Common Council, of which Mr. Perry was a member (and possibly the President) at the time, removed that requirement, and Mr. Perry soon became Hudson's DPW Superintendent.  I have no idea if this is factual, but it is what I was told years ago by someone who was involved in city politics at the time. 

I do not know if Mr. Perry has an engineering degree, and he may have one, but I have no reason to believe that he does possess one.  This debacle in the expanded Washington Street lot leads me to believe that Mr. Perry does not have an engineering degree.  Our DPW Superintendent, given all the position's responsibilities and our infrastructure woes, should, at the very least, be required to have a degree in engineering.  Someone schooled as an engineer never would have allowed the lot to be filled in as quickly, sloppily, and unsupervised as it was.  NEVER!

Stay tuned for updates.