Let's have a look at the nasty storm drain issue on Carroll Street that instigated this weekly feature 5 weeks ago. Not much new to see there but the same ugly and dangerous mess, including those loose chunks of asphalt no one at DPW has bothered to do anything about. As reported two Fridays ago, there was no cone on the drain to warn motorists and cyclists to stay away. DPW still feels that it's not important to keep anyone from damaging the storm drain or their vehicles any further! A cone has not appeared in two weeks and neither has anyone from DPW. Why would they bother? I have a hunch that our former DPW foreman Ronny Van Benschoten would not have allowed this situation to be ignored for the past 5 weeks or more. I mean, come on, no fucking cone secured to the drain so it can't go anywhere? Nothing keeping vehicles and bicycles away from it? I would have thought that DPW would have spray painted WE DONT CARE somewhere near the storm drain by now. Isn't that the least they could do, to inform us of their approach to this dangerous and ugly situation and bad road in general?
 |
| When was the last time you were able to clearly see the rim below a storm water grate? Would that be never? |
 |
| And just a few feet away, a manhole cover with obvious issues being ignored by DPW. Why do something about it now? Best to wait until the street surface starts to come apart! Easier to get at the problem below! |
Speaking of old storm drains that needed attention in the 20th century, this may be my most favorite of them all. It's in Cherry Alley at 2nd Street, and it looks like no one has touched it since the Civil War era when it was probably installed. Okay, maybe it hasn't been maintained since just 1910, but still, what on earth is going on at DPW? Storm water runs down that ancient drain and leads somewhere -- it's obvious that no one currently working at DPW has ever lifted that grate to see how things are faring below. When you're overwhelmed with troubles, it's so much easier just to look the other way, isn't it?
 |
| If this were in front of your house, would you allow DPW to ignore it? |
 |
| Sunken, dangerous, ancient, damaged, ignored. |
This is a huge friggin' red flag waving over the entire city. How on earth is it possible for a DPW Superintendent making $117,00 a year who has been at the helm for 15 years to not be aware of a 150-year-old stone sewer under Union Street that likely has more than one storm drain or manhole cover leading to it? It's simple. When prevent maintenance and curiosity (and paying attention) are not priorities at DPW, Mr. Perry is comfortable being as ignorant as possible about what is going on below our streets and how water flows from one spot to another. He accepts the nonchalance from himself and he accepts it from his workers. It is as if he doesn't care how damaged things become below our streets. When he tells the council that he is responding to this and that mess, fixing this and that broken thing, and shows his pictures, they all think he is the bee's knees. "Oh, where would we be without our DPW Savior on Zoom?" Has he ever once told the council that his efforts at preventive maintenance helped save the city money by taking care of an ancient storm drain before it became a complete disgraceful and more expensive, time-consuming mess? No, of course he hasn't. It's not in his DNA to do something so simple and crucial as preventive maintenance with our ancient infrastructure.
Notice how sunken that ignored ancient storm drain is, just waiting to put someone in the hospital or morgue. It's got to be 5 inches below the surrounding surface. Someone just trying to get rid of their trash might "accidently" step in it (there's a dumpster next to it)! Or maybe it kills the sanitation worker emptying the dumpster, the second dumpster-related fatality in less than two years in the city. Think Mr. Perry cares? Think Mr. Perry has ever laid eyes on that ancient drain? Think Mr. Perry cares if that well sunken drain hurts or kills a pedestrian or a tenant trying to drop their trash in the dumpster? "They should have been paying closer attention," he would bark. What a sweetheart we have as a DPW superintendent!
 |
| Still crumbling, still ignored South 3rd. |
This problem on 3rd Street will have to be dealt with sooner than later or DPW will have to go into emergency mode, something that makes Mr. Perry look like a superhero. My guess is that instead of solving the issue, DPW will likely try to pave over the failed surface, which doesn't do justice to the analogy of sweeping the problem under the rug. It would be a really, really stupid thing to do. That section (and at least one other almost as bad further south), like other failed section on South 3rd over the past two years DPW was forced to deal with, needs to be completely dug out down two feet and completely replaced. Since it's in the middle of the street along the truck route and there is SO MUCH OTHER STREET WORK GOING ON NEARBY, my guess is that our DPW superintendent and his new foreman have decided to ignore the crumbling, failing street for the time being. (That may not be possible if things continue to go south and the rain continues.) Ignore is not a word one likes to hear in regard to a failing street that has been falling apart for three years and was repaved less than 7 years ago. Ignore it at your own peril, Mr. Perry. Ignore your teeth, no matter what you eat or drink, and you will regret it eventually.
That's it for DPW. Here are a few other things HUDseen is keeping an eye on that readers are dying to know about.
If you live or regualrly travel on the 500 block of State Street, you are probably very familiar with, and very, very tired of seeing, the dumpster in front of 526 State at the intersection with Dodge. I know I am! I also know that a resident at 524 State is as well (can you imagine?). The present dumpster showed up about three weeks ago and has been full for two weeks. If there is work going on in the house, it's minimal, and the contractor hasn't been able to add any more waste to the dumpster. IT'S FULL, GET IT GONE! Bring another dumpster and finish your work before next year arrives, please!
This particularly ugly and unwelcome dumpster is one of a long line of ugly, dangerous and unwelcome dumpsters parked there since OCTOBER of last year. That's right, there have been maybe a total of 6 days in the past 9 months when there has not been a dumpster sitting in the fucking street at that intersection along a narrow stretch of busy street. The house isn't even close to being finished and some weekdays there is no, or minimal, noise or activity at the site. But there's the dumpster, always a dumpster, usually full, just sitting there full as if it doesn't matter one bit.
The large washed-out portion of the somewhat popular trail behind Oakdale Lake that connects the DSS driveway to Spring Street is still there in all its voluminous glory. The remainder of the width of the trail could easily disappear in a heavy rain. I called National Grid about their problem (they own much of that land back there, including that portion of the trail), but it seems they have done nothing about it. Sometime early last week, someone lit a fire in the hole, or threw some burning logs in there, adding to the beauty of the trail. As far as I know, no one has yet to fall into the chasm that removed half of the width of the trail. About 15 feet away, on the same side of the trail, there is a portion that looks like it is ready to wash away in a heavy downpour.
 |
| During today's rain |
 |
| The erosion continues. Anybody care to do anything about it? |
 |
| Picture taken 10 or 11 days ago. No one working. |
 |
| Plenty more work, digging, noise and road blocked still to be had. Just not today or yesterday. |
 |
| Picture taken this morning, no NG workers anywhere. If NG was working in the 300 block of Union this week, they were here just ONE DAY! Why are parking spaces off limits if no one is fucking working there? |
National Grid's pals Mullen and Talham were busy making all their noise and commotion until a few days ago, particularly on 3rd Street between Warren and Columbia, leaving an obscenely loud mess last weekend that two people I talked to referred to as "constant gunshots." For the entire fucking weekend! (Thanks so much for the loose metal plates, Talham! And thanks for allowing it, Robert Perry!). Warren just east of 3rd is also an ugly, rough concrete mess. Since no one at City Hall seems to be talking about it and there's nothing on the city website offering any information regarding the year-plus-long-so-far project, it sure is difficult to say when or if this will all come to an end and when all this will be turned into respectable pavement that might last for a few years and be free of sinkholes. Let's hope Talham gets to it this year. Or not, whatever!
Over at the intersection of 4th & State, no one has bothered to fill the deep footprints in the lovely concrete directly in the middle of the crosswalk. I wonder if anyone has stepped in one of those prints and lost a few front teeth. We'd probably never know. Looking south, the entirety of the east side of 4th Street awaits repaving.
 |
| Fuck you, too, Talham! |
Luizzi (don't you love that name! is it LOO-EZ or LOO-EATSY?), the contractor doing the DRI work in the west end, has left us a wonderful mess at 1st & Warren for the past two weeks. A few days ago, I asked a Luizzi worker preparing to saw into Front Street why the four corners one block away had not been finished first before beginning work on Front. He told me, "We're done there. This is a big project, we have a lot to do."
"But why would you abandon the sidewalks there and start here?" I asked.
"I said we are done there. We are waiting for the paving contractor to put down the concrete and create the curb ramps," was the answer.
"So, you hired someone else to do the concrete work?" I asked.
"That's right, we can't handle everything," was all he said.
Luizzi finished excavating the 4 corners two Fridays ago. Absolutely nothing was done there last week and most of this week. Yesterday I saw a contractor installing curb stones at the southeast corner. I've never sees anyone from the city near any of the projects making sure things are going as planned. This morning, I took this picture at 10:00 with no one working on any of the unfinished business, and no trucks idling nearby. Another day off!
 |
| What's the hurry? |
On that uplifting note, I bid you a fine weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment