Whose Pockets Will The Money For This Emergency Project Come From? How Much Longer Can This Continue?

Yesterday afternoon, in the upper portion of the 500 block of Union, I came across a few DPW workers, including the foreman Frank Rogers, and one guy working for a contractor hired by a utility, likely National Grid.  Over the past few years, that guy has spray painted our streets and sidewalks more than you can imagine (his color is yellow), all of it in preparation of excavation to mark where gas lines lie below so that no preventable or regrettable "accidents" occur.  (Honestly, given the amount of excavation of our streets and sidewalks and the number of different contractors doing the digging, I'm surprised we haven't had a gas line rupture and explode yet.)  Anyway, that guy is doing his best to keep the accidental gas leaks and explosions to a minimum, as well as keeping National Grid from being sued and dealing with a big headache. The last thing they need is for 2 or 3 houses or an apartment building to go up in flames because a contractor nicked a natural gas line out front with a backhoe.  Our streets and sidewalks look like shit with all that spray paint, but at least we're alive. For now at least. 

Usually when I see the friendly street painter doing his thing around town, I ask him what project he is preparing for and who is involved.  Yesterday, he told me that the city is going to install "3 catch basins here because of flooded basements."  Hmmm....

Rob Perry did not mention anything about this project 13 days ago at the October 15th meeting of the so-called Code & Infrastructure Committee (which Code abandoned 5 months ago).   Do you think that somewhere in the ten or eleven days following that meeting that Rob Perry decided it was finally time to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to install three catch basins in one block of Union Street to prevent flooding on private property that he was also made aware of this month?  Or was Rob made aware of the flooded basements prior to the meeting on October 15th?

If it's true that there has been a flooding problem in basements of houses in the 500 block of Union (possibly just the upper portion of the north side, perhaps including the VFW building) and Rob Perry has been aware of it, why hasn't he mentioned anything about it, how long has the problem been going on, and for how many months or years has he been aware of it?  Has Rob Perry been doing his best to ignore the situation?  When was Rob Perry, our $125,000 DPW Superintendent in charge of far too many things, made aware that a flooding problem exists in houses in the 500 block of Union that only DPW can remedy?

It should be noted that a few years ago there existed a basement flooding problem in at least three houses near the middle of the 400 block of Union (all, I believe, on the north side) that Rob Perry handled very poorly.  It was obvious he was doing his best to ignore the situation until a few homeowners and the NY State DEC forced the issue on him, including with the threat of fines and lawsuits, as I recall.  When the DEC found out about the sewer flooding problem -- thanks to at least one frustrated resident who contacted them -- they basically told Rob Perry, "You need to fix this now or you will be fined!  And we are not paying for your sewer problem." That emergency remediation project cost us millions and included tearing up the (closed) street and laying new pipes, work done by Colarusso.  Perry blamed the flooding on a clogged Civil War era sewer pipe (underneath at least one backyard) that he claimed to be unaware of until someone, somehow discovered it.  

It should also be noted that at the most recent "Code" & Infrastructure Committee meeting, our $125,000 DPW Superintendent had time to help the committee understand what was behind the new troubled stop sign(s) at Warren & Park Place, even offering a few jokes about it.  Perry was able to explain why the first and second stop signs were not able to be installed on the sidewalk, and Jason Foster and Henry Haddad thanked Rob for the insights into the signs.  Yes, it's true!  The city official responsible for keeping our sewer water where it is supposed to be flowing (in city-owned pipes), keeping our sewer water clean enough for the Hudson River, keeping our drinking water flowing into town from several miles outside of town, and keeping that drinking water safe for human consumption found time to talk and joke about a stop sign his department installed 8 feet from a curb that keeps getting run over by semi-trailers turning a corner as they pass through town.  Only in some sort of fucked up, upside-down, Howdy Doodey world is this possible.

Will the third sign be the charm 
that the first two were not?

Yesterday, Mr. Perry finally found the time to make his third attempt to install a PERMAMENT stop sign for Warren Street traffic, a sign (signs?) that is the brainchild of the mayor, another city official who shouldn't be directly meddling in traffic signs or crosswalks.  mayor Ferris' first two signs didn't stay permanent for very long (3 months, then 3 days).  Do I hear 3 weeks for this one?  

The temporary stop sign that took the place of "permanent" stop sign number 2 lasted about 12 days.  Stop sign and pole number 3 were installed yesterday in the exact location as the other two before it -- 8 feet from the curb.  Actually, the present stop sign appears to be the same as number 2 -- it is a bit mangled.  There's no money for a new one, apparently!

When a municipality is deprived of cash and personnel, bad choices and mistakes are made, money is wasted, and attention deficit disorder tends to set in.  Can you imagine if the official responsible for the sewers of New York City or Albany were to attend a public meeting and talk about, joke about, and answer questions about a stop sign, even one that can't seem to stay upright for very long?  They'd be laughed at and shown the door immediately, wouldn't they?  Of course they would be!  Not in Hudson, though!  We do dysfunction better than anyone else!  And man is it expensive dysfunction!

The lead picture was taken this morning a few hours after DPW's Union Street catch basin project began.  Westbound Union traffic was closed, forcing everyone onto 6th.  How long will that last?  How long will this project last?  I don't know, but I suggest you ask Mr. Perry if you want to know.  But remember that our $125,000 DPW Superintendent does not work from City Hall.  So, here is his unpublished cell phone number that he uses for work and for personal calls:  518-965-5235.  Give him a call if you are concerned or puzzled by what is going on in the 500 block of Union or at Warren & Park.  He would love to hear from you.  Let me know what he tells you.  Thanks!