The Next Big Dig Should Be On South Third. But We Will Be Paying For it. Again!

It has been about a year since DPW has done any of their very expensive and time-consuming street replacement work on South 3rd Street, and our Great DPW Communicator on Zoom seems to think that not mentioning the street's issues is a great way to give the impression to the new council that everything is just fine with Colarusso's 7-year-old pavement job.  It's not, and every council member should be deeply concerned why nothing is being done as the street continues to crumble.  They should demand answers from Robert Perry and not tolerate his evasive, bullshit so-called answers.

For any of the council members, especially the new ones, the first questions should be: 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOUTH THIRD STREET AND WHY HAVE WE BEEN PAYING TO REPAIR IT IF COLARUSSO REPAVED IT IN 2017 UNDER CONTRACT? 

FOR HOW MANY MORE YEARS OR DECADES WILL THIS FAILING CITY STREET CONTINUE TO REQUIRE DWP ATTENTION? 

WHY DO YOU APPEAR TO BE KEEPING THE COUNCIL IN THE DARK ABOUT THE FAILING STREET? WHY HAVE YOU NOT MENTIONED IT ONCE THIS YEAR TO THE NEW COUNCIL?

ARE THERE ANY OTHER SIMILARLY FAILING STREETS THAT WE SHOULD BE AWARE OF THAT YOU ARE KEEPING TO YOURSELF, MR. PERRY, OR IS SOUTH THIRD THE ONLY ONE? 

ARE YOU IGNORING THE SITUATION ON SOUTH THIRD BECAUSE GETTING INVOLVED THERE WILL REQUIRE DIVERTING THE TRUCK ROUTE AND UTILIZING MANY OF YOUR MEN FOR WEEKS DOING WORK THAT ALL MUNICIPALITIES NORMALLY HAVE PROFESSIONAL PAVERS HANDLE?

WHAT IS YOUR LONG-TERM PLAN, IF YOU HAVE ONE, TO FIX THIS IMPORTANT AND VERY BUSY TWO BLOCK SECTION OF THE TRUCK ROUTE AT THE ENTRANCE AND EXIT TO THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE CITY? 

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE CONDITON OF SOUTH THIRD RIGHT NOW, OR DO YOU PLAN TO HAVE DPW REPLACE THE WORST FAILING AND CRUMBLING PARTS THIS YEAR AS YOU HAVE DONE THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS?

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH IT WILL COST THE CITY IN THE END TO REPLACE COLARUSSO'S PAVING JOB FROM JUST SEVEN YEARS AGO, INCLUDING THE EXPENSIVE AND TIME-CONSUMING WORK THAT DPW PERFORMED THE PAST TWO YEARS?

LASTLY, MR. PERRY, WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS ON ZOOM AND NEVER IN THE ROOM WITH US?  ARE YOU AFRAID OF US?  OR DO YOU JUST HATE US?  HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU PROPERLY AND PROFESSIONALLY IF WE NEVER EVEN SEE YOUR FACE ON A SCREEN AND ONLY HEAR YOUR VOICE?  WHAT ARE YOU, HUDSON'S WIZARD OF FRIGGIN' OZ?  DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN US?

In my ten years of observing, and riding on, Hudson's streets, I 
have never come across anything like this other than on South Third.
Not just cracked pavement, but CRUMBLING pavement!

The smooth area in the background (a rarity on South Third) was redone
by DPW 2 years ago, just 5 years after Colarusso was paid to repave all of
the street from Warren to Allen. It took DPW at least one week to replace
just 30 feet of that southbound lane!

Those are not loose rocks I found in the middle of South Third Street yesterday.  They are loose chunks of asphalt that started out as smooth pavement in 2017 when New York State paid DPW so that DPW could pay Colarusso to repave all of South Third Street.  Guess who picks up the tab now to replace Colarusso's shit work that literally began falling apart after just a few years?  Hint: It ain't the tooth fairy!  

DPW spent a shit ton of money to do their first street replacement work on two short portions of severely failing South Third two years ago in the fall.  They did it again last year, also at great expense, thanks once again to local taxpayers.  And if DPW doesn't get busy with replacing the additional failing portions of the street soon (there are at least two really bad portions), things are going to be truly ugly this winter along this section of the truck route.  Once chunks of asphalt begin to come loose in a street, the whole thing two feet down needs to be replaced.  Our DPW Superintendent is fully aware of this (or at least he was), but he seems to have his head in some other universe now.  The I DON'T CARE universe?  Or is it the NOT MY PROBLEM universe?

This is what we get for hiring Colarusso to repave South Third 
just seven years ago!  But the ugly results are OUR PROBLEM, not theirs!

Have you noticed how cracked and damaged the 200 block of Allen has become lately, particularly the western half of the block? (Around the corner on South 2nd is pretty bad, too.)

Another long-failing section of South Third in need of serious
attention, not just hot patch.  (southbound lane, south of Union).
No loose chunks yet, but they will appear soon enough.  The more it
rains, the worse it gets and the quicker the loose chunks appear.