Friday's Features

Here are a few things seen around town this week, including some follow-ups from previous Friday's Features.

Well, it took a few months, but this week DPW finally attended to the damaged storm drain on Carroll Street.  However, it appears they didn't do any structural work, instead just patching the surface.  They were nice enough to leave the loose chunks of asphalt nearby on the grass, too!  Maybe those will make their way back in the street soon.  My guess is that this was just a temporary patch and DPW will have to be back to dive deeper into this drain.  Maybe in 2026.

Here is a sewer manhole cover located just a few feet away in the middle of Carroll.

The damaged storm drain in Cherry Alley behind the pocket park in the 500 block of Warren did get some serious attention, however.  That work took place this week over the course of a few days, getting much quicker and more extensive attention than the drain on Carroll Street received. 

Today, I came across something crazy (though not too unexpected) down in the city-owned and maintained Amtrak parking lot.  Yes, that is a car with a handicap permit parked in the middle of a traffic lane (primarily an exit lane).  At August's informal meeting, Robert Perry said that the blue lines (seen under and next to the parked car) were the "ADA path to the sidewalk," showing once again that he often doesn't know what he is doing or talking about (or just making stuff up again!).  My first thought when I saw those lines was "That kinda looks like a parking space, not a crosswalk."  Hmmm....

Nice job, Rob!

We have yet another quickly and strangely deteriorating section of South 3rd Street (this one near Warren) that DPW will not be able to ignore much longer.   As you may recall, this street was repaved by Colarusso in 2017 as part of that year's state-funded CHIPs project.  For the past two summers and falls, DPW has had to dig down two feet to repair sections of the street's foundation that Colarusso knowingly paved over (this is according to Robert Perry, so take it with a huge grain of salt!).  This current mess requires much more than patching or repaving.  It's the 3rd $treet Fia$co that won't go away, much like the next issue which also resulted from Robert Perry's ineptitude and lack of attention.

This street was repaved just 7 years ago!!!!!!!

Moisture seems to be forced to the
surface, a sign of structural issues.  NOT GOOD!

What really caught my attention last week and this week was a familiar problem in the Washington Street lot across from the Firestation.  Readers may be aware of the issues in the lot from the several HUDseen articles last year documenting what was taking place in the northern section of the lot (closest to the Oakdale Park parking lot).  Rob Perry allowed too much crap to be dumped back there from the creation of the Empire State Trail on Harry Howard in 2022 and, as I had tried to warn the city, in early 2023 there was a large mudslide that clogged the important Combined Sewer Overflow pipe there.  I called the DEC and they came and had a look.  They were not happy with what they saw.  

Essentially, Robert Perry screwed up big time (though you would never know it from listening to him avoid and obfuscate the issue at council meetings).  Initially, DPW did some major earth-moving work for several days to clear the end of the pipe of the fallen mud.  Then the city was forced to hire Delaware Engineering and Colarusso after the DEC told Robert Perry that he needed to stabilize and vegetate the slope to stop the erosion and landslides and to protect the CSO pipe.  I don't know how much money the city spent to clean up Mr. Perry's mess last year, but it wasn't cheap. ($10,000? $20,000? More?)  Whatever the amount, it didn't work.  Not at all.  Yet another failure and more money wasted thanks to Robert Perry. 

This slope was supposed to be vegetated last year.  It's 
still covered in nylon netting, but just a few weeds
have taken hold.  DEC is not happy about this.

These are pictures I sent to DEC recently, showing the further erosion on the hill and the lack of vegetation.  There is now a huge hole near the bottom due to erosion, directly above the CSO pipe that the DEC keeps an eye on.  Yesterday, I spoke to Jamie Malcolm at DEC to see where things stood and if he appreciated the pictures I sent him. 

Rainfall and erosion continue to reveal all 
the crap dumped in the lot that doesn't allow the 
slope to be stable.  The large chunk of concrete in
the middle still has yellow paint on its edge -- it was 
likely part of the curb on Harry Howard that was
replaced for the Empire State Trail!

Jamie thanked me for the pictures and said that he had spoken with our DPW Superintendent right away about the further erosion on the slope.  Jamie said that Robert agreed with him that there was "a problem" that needed attention (with our DPW Superintendent falsely calling the problem a "sinkhole"), but since Colarusso was busy on the Civil-War era stone sewer replacement project on Union Street (another HUGE project forced on the city by DEC!) there was nothing that could be done now.  The two agreed that when Colarusso was done on Union Street (or, as Jamie called it, "Cherry Alley") they would attend to the same issues in the Washington Street lot they dealt with last year that were not solved.  If that happens this year, the soil is going to be cold and hard and maybe covered in snow.   A dizzying f'ng shitshow!

The problem is that the erosion will continue until the slope is vegetated or it's made level.  But the soil that Mr. Perry allowed to be dumped there for months was so full of debris and crap (some of it quite large and heavy) that essentially nothing will grow there.  We paid Colarusso last year to put seed down and cover it in plastic netting.  About one year later, the netting is still there waiting for the greenery to grow!  And guess what?  The slope continues to erode every time it rains.  And when it rains really hard or for a long period of time, you had better stay clear.  And then call Colarusso so the city can spend tens of thousands more dollars we don't have to fix Robert Perry's colossal mistake that he will never own up to!  Year after year after year until maybe he finally retires or is fired and hands off his problem to some poor soul.

That's all FF has time, space and anguish for this week.  Have a fine weekend.