(This letter was sent to Department of Public Works Director Tom Brady)
Hi Tom,
Thanks for following through and getting our garbage collected on Saturday! We were one of the first streets to be “struck” and then one of the last streets to be picked up. I have to tell you, it made a big difference in the quality of life around here!
One of my very rugged neighbors, seeing me on my front porch after the garbage was collected, stopped, put his hands over his head in a ballet pose, turned his head to the left and sniffed, then to his right and sniffed. Then he did a happy dance. I roared!
Another neighbor just quietly took in the street. I yelled down to him, “It’s a whole new world, isn’t it?” He responded. “It really is!”
Yet another couple of neighbors had seen the truck. The way they described it was it looked like it had been fire bombed a few times … maybe it had?? I know that this is all out of your hands, and all you can do is work toward community health and safety, but I sure hope that we find a more robust way to support this union.
I want to give you a tremendous compliment from a Watertown resident who is very particular and doesn’t hand these things out lightly:
“I went to the 148 Waltham Street temporary drop off location today with both trash and recycling waste. They had dumpsters set up with WPD monitoring the entrance and Tom Brady was there with two assistants. He was directing people and answering questions. He was doing his job. I was pleased that they were organized and that you could move through the process quickly.”
I received an e-mail message from George Proakis this week (thank you, George) in response to my letter to him in Watertown News. See: My Watertown News Letter. Here’s what he said:
“Linda,
Thanks for sharing.
I’ll check in with our DPW team to see what’s creating the gaps in our construction notices to neighbors from these contractors and what we need to do to get it fixed.
By the way – if you want that full construction list that Angie mentioned in her message to you, we put those lists on-line every week at: https://groups.google.com/a/watertownconnect.com/g/con-not
It is still not a replacement for notices dropped door to door, and we can’t list something there if the utility doing the work doesn’t tell us what’s going on . . . but nonetheless it’s a good resource to have.
And you got this right: I have a great Deputy Manager who can fill in for me when I can’t be at a meeting. She did a great job. I also have a great DPW director. With the ongoing trash situation, we’ve all been checking in a few times a day, and making sure to update the community in our daily updates and on-line FAQ about trash and recycling options during the strike. Right now, we are working to see if we can setup a Saturday pickup to catch the backlog and get things back to baseline before Monday.
Thanks,
George “
So, I know that this won’t be easy, but it would be great if we could start to get this communication on road work under control. Get some standards in place. National Grid simply telling residents that they’ll be working on the street in the next few months (or not) doesn’t come under the category of efficient communication. (Suffering in silence is not one of my strong suits, and I think that a lot of residents’ patience around the City is wearing thin).
I opened the link for this week’s utility work, as George suggested, and this is what it said:
Utilities
Note: Utility companies are responsible for notifying residents prior to conducting work. National Grid Gas
National Grid’s Contractors, Feeney Brothers and NEUCO, will begin and/or continue gas main replacement work on the following streets:
- Prescott St – NEUCO – Performing gas service installation on Prescott/Gilbert
- Belmont St – NEUCO – Installing gas main on Belmont St near Prospect St
- Oliver St – NEUCO – Installing gas main connections with service transfer on Marshall/Oliver St.
- Elm St – NEUCO – Installing gas main on Elm St.
- Watertown Square (2 crews, night work) – NEUCO – Installing gas main on N. Beacon/ Arsenal St.
Localized detours of the traffic immediately surrounding the work site may occur. Small neighborhood streets may be closed to transiting traffic. Please expect minor delays.
It’ll be interesting to see if they end up on my street, as they did last week, even though it is not mentioned in the DPW notes for this week. Suffice it to say, confusion reigns, but with your help and guidance, we’re hoping for a clearer process for repair work in Watertown.
Thanks again.
Linda Scott