Big Hole$, Big Money Pit$!

Yesterday at 2 pm, I came across 8 DPW workers -- and just as many vehicles and pieces of machinery -- working in and around an enormous hole in the middle of South Front Street at the bottom of the hill by the train station.  They had all likely been there for hours, because the hole was pretty goddamn deep and wide.  8 workers, each making at least twenty dollars an hour, with most of them standing at the side of the hole looking in.

The dump truck seen behind the backhoe was carting away loads of dirt and rocks (some quite large).

That's DPW's second-in-command inside
 the cab of the backhoe.

Less than two hours later, the crew of workers was down to 4, with a pneumatic jack hammer attached to the backhoe hammering away at the asphalt and rocks below, operated by the DPW foreman.  

Several hours later at sundown, there was this:

Two-day project.  Do I hear three?

Wouldn't it be beneficial to the city, to the Common Council and to the city treasurer if Rob Perry were required to give a monthly tally of the amount of time and money (labor and materials) that DPW spends to fix pipes below city streets, as well as to repave and patch streets that are falling apart or have been excavated by contractors?  Yes, of course this would be extremely helpful and instructive, and any worthwhile Common Council member would have asked for this of our $123,000 DPW Superintendent long ago.  And he should have been happy to oblige.  This is information that shouldn't have to be pried out of Rob Perry, because our old pipes and infrastructure are hobbling this city financially.