Then And Now!

The lead photo was taken on March 17th, 170 days ago, give or take one or two.

But let's begin the story more recently, shall we?  Toward the end of the August meeting of the so-called Code & Infrastructure Committee (even the title of the committee is dysfunctional since no one from Code Enforcement is involved!), co-chair Henry Haddad informed Rob Perry of the uninstalled, upright streetlight arm (with streetlight) at "121 Union."   Haddad told Perry that it had been there since "February or March." (This observer is pretty sure it showed up last fall.)  Perry then complained, "They don't tell us," adding a chuckle.  Perry was referring to National Grid's occasional habit of removing our streetlights off of old poles but not reinstalling them to their new poles (as far as I can tell, they no longer do this.  They just leave our lights on the old poles they leave behind).  So, immediately, the issue of a dark-at-night street thanks to an uninstalled streetlight arm with expensive light upright on a city sidewalk in a residential neighborhood ignored for at least 6 months by DPW is not Rob Perry's fault; it is National Grid's fault.   Sounds about right for our bloated $125,000 DPW Superintendent.  "It's their fault I haven't known about this for the past 6 or 12 months."  Like a whiny, petulant child.

Rob Perry didn't bother to write a remeinder to himself about this issue brought to his attention, just as he never takes notes of issues people bring to his attention.  How could he possibly do this with his arms always so firmly crossed on his chest, with his body at a 45 degree angle to the table in front of him, and no writing utensil or notebook to write in?  

Rob Perry then explained who would solve the issue with the light and arm he was finally made aware of.  It would have to be taken care of by a person named Scotty, an electrician who does not presently work for the city but once did years ago.  Perry told Haddad: "Just email it so that way when I have several of them, when we have Scotty around doing lights, we'll just send him that one."  

While jotting something on a piece of paper, Henry Haddad said, "Thank you."  He did not ask Rob Perry when he expected the light to be off the sidewalk, no longer secured to the base of the new pole, and properly installed at the top.  No, Henry Haddad didn't ask Rob Perry anything about the upright streetlight.  He just told him about it.  (My first question:  How the F is DPW not aware of this?  What else aren't you aware of that you should be?) Presumably, though, Henry Haddad did email Rob Perry his friendly reminder (isn't that nice!) following the meeting that was held 25 days ago, so there is a chance we'll get an update about the upright streetlight a week from tomorrow.  But I wouldn't count on it.  Maybe Perry never got the email.  Maybe he just threw it in the trash before reading it.  Maybe Henry's forgotten all about his request, just as he seems to have forgotten about his June 1st request of HPD for them to tell Rob Perry to install a DO NOT ENTER sign for wrong way drivers on 7th as they approach State Street.  

Yes, Scotty is the independent electrician that the city has to pay to repair and hang the LED streetlights that the city purchased from National Grid over two years ago so that the city could save money in the long run.  Ten or twenty years ago, when City Hall calculated that it was worth it in the long run for the city to be responsible for every single streetlight in the city, did Rob Perry tell the City Treasurer or anyone else that he would be forced to hire an independent electrician to fix every single light when they go dark, won't turn off, or are upright on the sidewalk?  Something tells me the answer is NO, and that this little detail would still be a surprise to the City Treasurer and possibly our new "mayor" as well.

There are at least a dozen of our streetlights that haven't turned off for months.  One of them is on Prison Alley directly behind City Hall.  (Our dear mayor has been well aware of that broken light for at least the past month.  I make sure of that, let me tell you!)  Then there's the LED streetlight in front of 15 Union that has been on for close to one year.  A HUDSON HUB request a few months ago got nothing accomplished.  It remains on all the time, as in 24/7/365.  What the hell does Rob Perry care if the city is wasting electricity and money?  As sure as rain, he still gets his paycheck even as he ignores our streetlights and the city's bottom line.

Oh, I almost forgot about that upright streetlight arm with the expensive energy-saving LED bulbs over in the dark-at-night middle of the 100 block of Union for the past 6 or 12 months!  I took a look at it the other day just to be sure it hasn't budged, fallen over, or been vandalized or stolen.  Sure enough, thank goodness, it's still there as upright as it's been since who-knows-when, waiting for SCOTTY to find some time to lift it up where it belongs and plug it in!  Below is the most recent picture I took of the still upright on the sidewalk, still not on at night, still waiting to be stolen, still WTF upright streetlight over on Union.  Don't you just love the exposed electric wires sticking out of the bottom of the arm hoping to be played with by a child?   And how about National Grid's mound of loose gravel all hoping to hop into Rob Perry's sewer system?  Some of it likely already has... not that our $125,000 DPW Superintendent cares one way or the other!  It's Scotty's problem now!  No, it's National Grid's fault!  No, it's Henry Haddad's issue!  No, it's all of the above.  It's just not Rob Perry's problem, that's for sure!  Never has been and never will be.

What would Rob Perry have to say if this street-
light were to be stolen, which it easily could be?
"They never told me about it!"?  "What the 
fuck do I care? I'm still getting paid, aren't I?"?