Can We Trust Colarusso and Rob Perry To Build Us Any Infrastructure That Will Last Even Just A Few Years?

Here are some pictures I took a few days ago of the concrete sidewalk and street surfaces of the year-old Ferry Street bridge.  Even if you don't ever drive, bike or walk across the new bridge, you should be incensed at the situation.  And seriously concerned about what the heck is going on (and not going on) on the second floor of City Hall.

Colarusso built our bridge, including the sidewalks and street surfaces over and leading to it, from the intersection with Front to the entrance of the boat launch parking lot.  Concrete was used for both of the long pedestrian sidewalks up and over the bridge and, as is common practice, for the bridge's street surface for vehicle traffic.  Asphalt was used for the street surface leading to the bridge on both sides. 

Even before the bridge was officially reopened in June (?) of last year, I noticed a long crack in a pad of concrete near Front Street.  It was no hairline crack, either.  Rob Perry, mayor Johnson, most of the common council members, and others associated with City Hall were notified of the situation via an email with a picture.  Soon enough, the concrete sidewalk on the north side was full of hairline cracks.  Then the sidewalk on the south side followed suit.  More emails, now with multiple pictures, were sent to the important people supposedly managing our city.

Notice the long crack ahead of the car

How long do you suppose the old Ferry Street bridge lasted before the original wooden planks on the surface had to be replaced? Were any of them ever replaced?

Notice that the faint crack across the street 
is in line with the crack across the sidewalk.
The straight line is a seam.

And what I expected to also happen and be able to eventually see on the bridge has come to be.  It was just a matter of time, and that time arrived very recently with BOTH OF THE CONCRETE STREET SURFACES OVER THE BRIDGE NOW HAVING MULTIPLE CRACKS TO COMPLEMENT THE RIDICULOUS NUMBER OF CRACKS ON THE CONCRETE SIDEWALKS.  I counted 5 faint cracks on one side and 6 on the other, all but one of them reaching across the entire lane of the street, including the shoulder. The cracks aren't easy to see, and no one in a vehicle will notice any of them, but there they are just getting started and soon Rob Perry will no longer be able to ignore the situation. (If I had to guess, I'd say that the first crack on the surface of the street showed up within the past few months.) In fact, in the middle of the bridge there is one faint crack across the entire westbound lane that is clearly an extension of a crack across the entire adjacent sidewalk.  And Rob Perry, if he cared about the well-being, safety, looks and integrity of the bridge's surfaces, could just as easily as anyone see the cracks all over the bridge, many of them about a year old, some relatively new and on the vehicle surface.  He just has to stop and have a look, to want to be aware of the problem and do something about it.  But stopping, looking, and inspecting closely (after getting OUT of his city-issued vehicle) is not part of Rob's repertoire, particularly when it comes to matters of infrastructure built by Colarusso, no matter how large the project is or who pays them to complete the work.  (I believe the Ferry Street bridge project did not cost the city one nickel.  It was funded by the Feds or by the State of New York.)

What do you think the bottom of the concrete surface lying on the metal of the bridge looks like?  Worse than the top?  Better?  About the same?

Wouldn't you love to read the contract Rob Perry signed with Colarusso for the Ferry Stret bridge project, just to see what, if anything, it states about a warranty or structural flaws that might appear!

Perhaps the most prominent street crack.
For now, at least!

How on earth did we arrive at this point?  I'll give you at least one of the reasons.  If you allow one person to be in charge of all of a city DPW, you will eventually come to regret it.  It might take more or less than the16 years that Rob Perry has been DPW Superintendent, but you will regret it!  It will come back to bite you and/or your successors in the ass.  And hard! That time has come, it appears, as Hudson is quite literally coming apart at the seams.  Don't believe me?  Go have a look at the stains on the expensive bluestone steps at the entrance to Promenade Park that Colarusso gave us a few years ago.  Rob Perry recently explained that the stains are caused by the washing away of the grout Colarusso used for the steps.  (Over a year ago, he said the culprit was salt DPW used.  Then it was sand that DPW used.  Now it's grout.)  Grout fills seams, doesn't it?  Pretty soon there won't be any grout left in those seams!  Then what?  Rob Perry (or his successor) will have to ask the common council for an infusion of funds to help cover the cost of fixing the fucking failing steps that have lost all of Colarusso's grout.  What's the council going to say?  NO? 

Picture taken a year or two ago

When you're done admiring the lovely stains at the entrance to our most popular park with its million-dollar view, head a few hundred feet down South Front Street and have a slow walk over the year-old Ferry Street bridge, being sure to stop occasionally to have a look at the concrete surfaces that Colarusso left us last year that Rob Perry doesn't give a crap about.  While you're there, take some pictures of the cracks and send them to the mayor, his aide and the city's supposed ADA Coordinator, Tiffany Martin, Rob Perry, all the council members (except, of course, for the completely useless Dewean Sarowar and Lola Roberts) and anyone else associated with City Hall who you think might be interested to know about the pathetic situation that might soon cost the city dearly ($$$$).  Better yet, don't waste your precious time!  Go to the park, sit, relax and enjoy the view while we have it.  I think I'll do the same right now while the year-old Ferry Street bridge is still intact, trying to ignore the mess that it has already become!