Sharraxaadda
10/21/10 while biking to work i came across a PWD work crew of about 15 workers attempting to remove debris from the river. they failed to secure their work area and berated me for not interpreting a plastic "detour" sign as a closed road. they cursed at me repeatedly while laughing and literally threatened me to get back up the hill. despite refusing me passage, they let other people pass from the other side of the path. this is discriminatory and unprofessional.
there were a number of employees, they could have taped off the path and stationed someone at the top of the hill. they actually did so, but only after i told them they should.
I don't appreciate being threatened by phila employees. They gave no prior notice of the plan to close the path. Not a single one of them was wearing a hard hat. Typical water department incompetence.
They refused to give me their names or their supervisor's full name, identifying him only as "oneill."
When they did start operating the crane, they failed to choose a large enough strap to pull thousands of pounds of waterlogged debris from the creek. The strap snapped, sending a huge block and tackle flying at the crowd of employees who were standing directly between the crane and truck. It's a miracle no one was killed. They yelled up that it should have been me in the path of the block. Nice. Thanks guys.
It should be noted that I encounter numerous work crews on this path and route. They're all professionals (fairmount park, subcontracted construction, subcontracted landscapers). The PWD stands out as a bunch of goons. This is unacceptable.
9 Faalladas
Concerned Cyclist (Martida)
Concerned Cyclist (Martida)
Concerned Cyclist (Martida)
Concerned Cyclist (Martida)
good neighbor (Martida)
update: they have no idea how long they'll be there.. and no one can tell me who their supervisor is.
spoke with a park ranger on the way in, fairmount park is unaware of the construction.
concerned cyclist (Martida)
update: I found the path blocked by a PWD work crew today. After making the "detour" up 100 steps, through a 1/2 mile of roxborough, and down ridge ave rush house traffic, I was able to locate a supervisor, Pat Ford. Pat refused to accept responsibility for his crew's actions.
Summary:
Pat Ford flat out denied that his employees use vulgarity w/ the public.. He wouldn't accept my claim as even a remote possibility. That's unfortunate because several of his employees are making him a liar.
He said he's not allowed to block the path.. that only fairmount park can. This is despite the fact that he closed the path.
He said they used to post signs miles up path but stopped bothering because people disregard them. I told him that I can't accept responsibility for all people. I don't feel this is an acceptable response.
He said that he informs district 3 every time that he's in fairmount park and that it's their responsibility to post signage and close the path.
I said I'm tired of the path being closed intermittently for weeks. He denied that they were there on 11/21 then went on to tell me about that day. I guess my emails to his superiors got through to him.
On the day that I had this encounter, he said his guys were just setting up when they failed to block the path. This is untrue, they were operating equipment when I came through the unblocked path.
I told him that I saw numerous guys standing around when they cursed at me. He said that he doesn't have enough people to secure his work sites
said that a supervisor 'neil' was coming to talk to me. This is a flat out lie, no doubt what "Neil" told his boss when confronted about this incident. I waited a good 20 minutes for a police officer to arrive that day, in plain view of his crew. I asked a few of them their names and who their supervisor was. This "Neil" fellow was not on site at that time.
He flat out denied that his guys would let some people through but not others. He said that they let people through during times when they are not operating. This is not true.
I'll call fairmount park to get their impression of what is supposed to happen.
concerned cyclist (Martida)
La qiray Philly311 (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
(http://www.phila.gov/oig/index.html) Thank you. (mb)
La xidhay Philly311 (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)