Scene and heard

There are no holes on the block! None! The ‘workmen’ seem to like it here though, so they still have their stuff here. There actually is one hole at the corner, across the road. They are apparently keeping my block down to 2 lanes for old times sake.

Previously, 5 ½ months after re-starting work on this block – and I use the word work in the loosest possible sense – they started laying water mains. Odd, as the entire point of the digging was supposedly to do with water pipes.

This is the current condition of the road. They dumped tar on what used to be road and pavement by the intersection with 4th Ave, and made criminally pathetic attempts to smooth it over. I heard a couple of elderly women discussing how difficult it is to navigate that area. My mother, visiting from England and needing a walking frame to get around, has a hell of a time walking there and crossing the street.

It’s truly disgraceful. The corruption is there for all to see. I wonder how much money it has cost so far. And no doubt, within weeks of these people leaving, road workers will have to come and dig everything up and re-lay the road and pavement. At a cost of? And who pays? And which Brooklyn politicians accept generous campaign contributions while handing these shyster companies generous contracts without accountability or minimum standards! In some places, this wouldn’t be allowed!
Footnote: There used to be a drain at the crosswalk. Gone now. So when it rains, we have puddles. People should go to prison for this. I resent my taxes lining the pockets of crooked politicians and enriching cynical ‘businessmen’.