From the EVG inbox this past weekend...
So, this is at least the fourth time since January that Con Ed has torn up East Sixth Street between Avenue A and B in front of our building. Jackhammers, heavy machinery, later tar and mechanical stompers. CRAZY NOISE! They obviously can’t find the problem.
My issue is they invariably show up at 6 p.m. on Friday to start the work. Start jackhammering about my son’s bedtime at 8. Now it’s a holiday weekend so its probably triple time. I think its a kind of boondoggle. There is no reason that this work always starts at 6 on Friday.
It makes the apartment uninhabitable. Of course, if there is a leak then they are simply incompetent. They were here two weeks ago and ripped the sidewalk in front of our building. I don’t know what’s worse, the noise or the fear they are incompetent.
Is there anything to do about it?
9 comments:
I live on the block and too loathe this never-ending project by Con Job Ed. (Don't buy their stock.) I can't understand why they don't communicate more with the people on the block. Getting info from them is a major hassle. They've been doing things on the block off and on for at least a year, including the substation work on the corner of A.
Meet me at the Creative Little Garden Saturday at 10 am so we can organize a posse or something to go up against C(J)E.
Another non C(J)E complaint: The !@#$% helicopters overheard. There were two this morning about 6 am. The City Council or whoever does these things should pass a law preventing these noiseocopters from operating above NYC, except when necessary such as a 9/11 event, or to chase a fleeing crime suspect.
There were three of them operating above Union Square during the protest a few weeks ago. I told a cop that the 'copters were a useless waste of taxpayer$ loot, and he agreed with me. Let's organize to tell off Con(J)Ed, and to do something about the copters.
Bill, opponent of stupid government programs (sorry to be redundant in calling a govt. program stupid)
I'm also on this block; luckily with windows facing the backyards. ConEd has been getting more and more difficult to deal with. Last year I went through a series of complaints with them because their workers would park their private cars on the sidewalk (this was dealt with, ultimately). With the recent construction, ConEd had almost half a block roped off for private employee parking. I don't drive or own a car, but I wonder why ConEd employees can't take the subway to work like the rest of us? They actually hired or designated 1-2 people at all times to manage their employees' parking on the block. Is this what our gas & electric bills pay for?
Good point by Anonymous. I noticed the security guards along the street for no reason whatsoever at all hours of the day and night.
Another reason to jack up your monthly C(J)E bill.
I wonder if they were there as a result of some sort of union mandate.
Bill
1. Here's a good guess: ConEd workers cannot take the subway because they work on critical systems to human safety and must be able to respond to emergencies and be in radio contact. As for their personal parking on a job site, that's really kinda normal for all site-based jobs; same with film crews and architects and construction workers. It's unsafe for people to be there so they use it as parking. That's just a perk of being a ConEd worker. I'm sure your job has its own enviable perks, too.
2. I'm on 6th all the time at Josie's and I do feel for the neighbors on this block. Every since that gas leak 6th Street has been a disaster, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt; it's a shitshow underneath the pavement and they never know what they are going to find (like empty oil drums on Ave A!)
3. They have a job that none of us would ever want to do so let's give 'em a break. Bad ConEd senior management is one thing, but the guy doing his job on the street deserves our respect.
"It's unsafe for people to be there so they use it as parking."
Half an avenue block away from ConEd site is "unsafe for people to be there"? We're talking about areas where not even sidewalks are blocked to pedestrians; this has everything to do with free parking and nothing to do with resident safety.
"They have a job that none of us would ever want to do"
Come on, they're not sanitation workers. Plenty of people would like ConEd type jobs. It's hard work, but no worse than many other jobs in the city.
Con Ed dug up East Fourth Street between A and B again and again, over a long period of time, a few years ago. There had been a gas leak, but the way they worked it looked like incompetence, or prolonging a job in order to earn a paycheck.
Exactly. They are union workers and make good pay. There was a great article in the Wall St. Journal (aka Rupert's Rag or the War St. Journal) a few weeks ago about utility companies. It pointed out that they are incentivized to spend money, because it's built into their rate increase requests, etc.
That's one reason why C(J)E has been doing this work off and on for so long. The more they drag the work out the higher the company's revenues and the more their union boyz make.
The losers are the customers, not least of which are the long suffering people who live on 6th between A & B, and the shareholders (at least to the extent that this hurts their profits).
Like I said, don't buy Con Job Ed's stock. Flip a big middle one to their CEO if you see him on the street.
Bill
Thank you for covering this issue. As of now the hole is still there and no work has been done since that night. I expect they will cover the hole and make a lt of noise in the process then show up a few weeks later and re dig said hole.
I live on E. 9th Street/Ave D, and every morning they are CONSTANTLY DIGGING UP THE STREETS ON AVE D, OR ON E. 9TH STREET. Even right now,they are digging. It NEVER Ends.
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