Thanks To National Grid, We're Still Not Out Of The Woods! If They Have Their Way, We May Never Be!

Twice last year -- in either April or May and then in December -- in the same location, a large portion of the National Grid-owned quasi-public trail behind Oakdale Lake washed away due to rainwater runoff.  A hole was waiting for anyone to walk, run or bike into and possibly die, especially at night.  Debris had been washed to the creek below.  And twice in the past 6-plus months -- in August and again last week -- National Grid has filled that recurring washed out portion of their property along the trail.  (According to a NG worker at the site last year, the same thing happened several years ago.)  Yes, National Grid has been busy at it again already this year filling the same goddamn hole.  Last year it took them at least two months to fill their gaping hole after surrounding it with orange caution tape.  And this time it also took National Grid at least two months to fill the same goddamn hole after I noticed it on the last day of December (actually, the hole looked to be a bit larger this time around, which is unsurprising).

Here is the original HUDseen article about the fiasco, written when the situation first reared its ugly head: First Washout!

Here is the follow up HUDseen article from December, Second Washout, posted after I noticed nearly all of NG's material used to fill the hole had been washed down the embankment.  Loads of stones and dirt once again came rest at the side of the creek leading to the lake.  If you look hard enough, you can see plenty of stones in the creek.  This additional debris and silt clogs the creek and makes its way to Oakdale and beyond, a runoff situation that is not appreciated by aquatic life and not recommended by anyone who knows a thing or two about ecology or appreciates our lake.  Of course, National Grid doesn't seem to care about a clean and habitable planet for all animals, as HUDseen pointed out in this article: National Grid Cares!  Our so-called mayor probably doesn't give a hoot either!  I have notified the NY State DEC of the situation but have no idea if they will get involved.

This is what I came across on December 31st.
(The lead picture and picture below were 
taken on the same day)

This past Monday morning, for the second time in about six weeks, I notified National Grid of the problem on their property along the trail which holds a buried natural gas pipeline.  Because of that gas line, they considered my concern a gas emergency even though there was no smell of gas or other evidence of a boken gas line.  By midafternoon, I got a call from someone named Matt from National Grid who was responding to the "emergency."  He was at the end of Spring Street, unsure of where to head next.  I asked him if he had been to the site last year to deal with the same problem.  "No," he responded, "I've never been here."  I led him to the trailhead that is without signs of any kind, and soon he told me that he was standing at the eroded portion of trail. He immediately told me that he would have to "call someone else to come have a look."  (Can you believe this nonsense?)  I did my best not to laugh and scream, then directed Matt's attention due north of the hole to the slight gulley alongside the trail which provides the runoff and is the sole cause of the continually eroding trail.  He saw exactly what I was describing.  2 or 3 days later, by last Thursday, the huge washed-out portion of trail had been filled in with stones and fill -- yet again.  Same as in August.  This is not a 5-gallon bucket or two of material.

Saturday, March 8th, hole filled, trail "safe" for now.
NG filled a much wider swath of the trail this time, also 
using much larger stones.

Notice the washed-out section.  ALREADY!

By Saturday morning, as the pictures clearly show, National Grid's freshly installed material had already been washed away, likely due to Thursday's fair amount of rain. As long as National Grid doesn't solve the issue of water runoff winding its way to the spot along the trail that keeps washing away, they will continue to throw (our) good money at bad. They will continue to ignore the problem and be irresponsible with their financial assets, just the type of issue our NY State Public Service Commission concerns itself with.

This time National Grid got it right.  Right?

Soon enough, this fissure will turn
into another washout!  Then it will be
time to fill the (w)hole thing again after notifying NG!

This time around, though, NG seems to be getting serious about their erosion problem!  Some of the stones they used are much larger than when they most recently filled their hole in August.  However, I'm not exactly sure what purpose the several loose stones scattered around might be serving.  To me it just shows how sloppy National Grid is and that they have no idea what they are doing.  Installing new utility poles and leaving old poles for someone else to deal with?  National Grid's got that down!  Preventing runoff, erosion and landslides in the woods?  Not so much!  I suppose that the loose stones could be a gift for kids to toss down the embankment where they can come to a rest with all of National Grid's other stones down there by the side of, and in, the creek which leads to the much abused and essentially dead Oakdale Lake!  "Good morning kids, today is our Oakdale Lake and stream ecology lesson!  Grab a stone from the ground which the big company National Grid has been generous enough to provide us with thanks to the money your parents pay them to keep you warm and alive and out of the dark.  Find one of their stones as large as you can comfortably handle.  You all love to throw rocks, especially down hills, don't you?  Okay then, on the count of 3, I want everyone to throw your stone down the hill and watch where it lands.  This is how you kill a stream and lake and everything living in it.  Isn't that nice?  Now go home and tell your family what you have learned today!"

NOTE TO NATIONAL GRID:  PLEASE STOP WASTING OUR MONEY!  FIX THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SYMPTOM!  NOW!  DO A BETTER JOB OF DEALING WITH ISSUES ON YOUR PROPERTY THAT YOU ARE NOT KEEPING AN EYE ON AND WHICH AFFECT THE PEOPLE OF HUDSON.

National Grid is in the middle of negotiations with the NYS Public Service Commission over their proposed rate price increases.  As I read in one recent article online, they are hoping to get jumps of 15% for electric and 20% for gas.  Meanwhile, the material National Grid recently had to purchase with our money to fill the hole that was filled 6 months prior is already giving way and cracking!  It's not going to hold -- all it will take are a few hard (or soft) rains.  May showers ought to do the trick, if not before. The fourth round of wasting our money is right ahead.   

Notice all the stones down by the creek.  That's the money we 
pay for our gas and electric which National Grid profits from, 
clogging the creek and making a general mess of things.

Sure, allow National Grid to hike their rates and give their executives their much-deserved pay hikes, too.  They deserve it!

Several months ago, during a Youth Department report at an informal council meeting, Director Liz York mentioned that she, the mayor and National Grid were in talks to allow the public (including summer youth campers) to use National Grid's trail that no one ever should have been walking on starting decades ago.  It's possibly that a property ownership change is in the offing, if anything is actually happening.  Liz has not mentioned anything about this issue recently and neither has the mayor.  (I wonder if Kamal ever visits Oakdale Park on his free time when he takes a break from his so-called facebook friends.)

Last Friday, I spoke with someone named Kathy at National Grid's Real Estate Department in Syracuse.  She was well aware of the situation along the trail, told me that the hole had been filled and that National Grid was "still talking with the Hudson mayor" about the trail.  She also told me that no one is supposed to be walking on their property.