Look Familiar?

In one block on Saturday I counted 176 cones,
almost all of them on one side of the street.

The paving contractor that National Grid hired to tidy things up in the street and on the sidewalks of the 200 block of State Street goes by the name of Bob Talham, Inc., of Troy. They began work late last week, digging at least 20 holes along the 2 sidewalks, essentially closing down the entire southern sidewalk, as well as doing some concrete paving work in the street by filling in the trench that National Grid dug 6 or 7 months ago.  5 days later, a casual look shows really shoddy work, half of the street still unfinished and nothing along the sidewalk started yet besides the holes having been dug and blocked with cones and tape. There is no work today amid the rain.

I know that Google reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt, but it's still worth looking at what has been written about Bob Talham, Inc.  There are 9 Google reviews, two of them positive, with a combined rating of 1.8 stars (reviewers can't choose less than one star), and at least one of the two positive reviews seems to be an inside job.  A compilation of 3 of the negative reviews sums up why we should be concerned about a contractor hired by National Grid to properly repave OUR STREETS:  "If I could give this company less than one star I would. Complete lack of consideration in any neighborhood they are working in... I am very disappointed in this company and would strongly suggest that they not be used by anyone.  They are very unprofessional and have no regard or respect for their customers...In my experience, this contractor performs substandard work and has poor customer service."  Of course, all the negative reviews could have been submitted by their competition.

Just a few of the 176 cones that Talham
left behind for the weekend

Would this have been acceptable on Warren
Street for more than one day?

Here is what was written in one of the two positive reviews, supposedly submitted by a Joseph Mouawad:  "Work By Danny Was Implacable And Prices By Katie Were Less Then All Companies We Had Been Quoted!  Thanks Guys...."  (errors and caps not mine).  The other positive review has no text.

It's worth repeating:  An entire block of a city street, including both sidewalks, is being patched and repaved by a company hired by a utility.  Not a paving company chosen by our DPW, but a company chosen by a utility that took 8 months to do their work in that one block.  The work is starting in the middle of December in upstate New York, a month that makes creating quality concrete very difficult, if not impossible, and often ends in weak, brittle surfaces.  All the rain doesn't help, either (which, of course, could easily have been several inches, or a foot or two, of snow).  Equally concerning is why they are installing concrete on our asphalt street. (Probably because the asphalt plants shut down weeks ago, as they always do when it gets too cold to make or use the stuff effectively)

Footprints in the crosswalk. Whatever!

If and when Talham's concrete work along the 200 block of State begins to fail, who will repair it and pay for it?  The City of Hudson, Bob Talham, Inc., or National Grid?  Will Rob Perry allow the footprints in the concrete to remain, especially those in the crosswalk?  Will he even take a look at the results of Talham's work before they leave town?  Will he write a positive Google review for Talham when they are done?  (PS - The professional pavers from Troy are supposedly scheduled to return in the spring to put the finishing touches on South 3rd and the 3 blocks of Warren Streets' sidewalks and driving surfaces, as well as the driving surfaces of Green and Columbia Streets.  In other words, Bob Talham, Inc. is doing a whole lot of critical paving work on our streets and sidewalks because a utility company felt they were the most qualified paving company for the task.)