Gee Thanks, Mullen!

On the coldest day of the winter so far?

This morning, almost inexplicably, National Grid's contractor Mullen was back at work on Warren Street trying to get at pipes and gas valves below our streets and sidewalks. I wonder if it's ever too cold or snowy for them to be doing this kind of work involving their natural gas infrastructure. (The work National Grid's contractors have been doing since September is NOT the result of an emergency situation. It is a preventative maintenance effort that did not have to take place so late in the year. The NY State Public Service Department has ordered all gas utilities in the state to upgrade their lines by replacing old metal pipes with new plastic pipes.)

Both the sidewalks -- SIMULTANEOUSLY -- in the middle of the 400 block of Warren were closed to foot traffic at 8:00 this morning in the bitter cold, forcing pedestrians ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET into the wet, slushy, icy and slippery street where vehicle traffic was squeezed by the machinery parked on both sides of the street.  One sign even read USE OTHER SIDE!  Great time to be forcing pedestrians on both sidewalks into the street, Mullen!  Thanks so much!

I then watched (and heard!!) in disbelief for several minutes as a worker operating an excavator used the bucket (which is designed to pick things up) to slam the sidewalk repeatedly in an attempt to break apart the cold and stubborn concrete.  I could feel the ground rattle 30 feet away.  There is a tool that one can attach to an excavator's arm meant to break apart concrete properly -- it's called a breaker, and it works the same as a jackhammer does.  Of course, if you don't care about using the proper heavy-duty tool for the job and your goal is to create as much peripheral damage as possible when trying to break apart concrete, use a heavy metal bucket and slam it as often as it takes to get the job done.  You will probably damage the bucket and the excavator's arm in the process as well, if you are okay with that, too.   By all means, do not use a breaker attachment or an actual jackhammer!  And don't worry if you damage something else in the process -- someone else will eventually fix it.  Maybe some year our DPW will get to it for you.

One wonders if Robert Perry would be okay with how Mullen was treating our pedestrians, the sidewalk and all the infrastructure below it this morning.  One wonders if he even cares.  Is anyone from City Hall paying attention to what National Grid's contractors are doing on and under our streets and sidewalks?