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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 10:15:21 GMT -6
We've had construction going on our small (but wide) street for the last 6 weeks (it was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago, of course), and were told it was to improve the sewage system and runoff on our street.
It's been a big pain in the ass, first of all, because both my wife and I work the later shift, and therefore aren't early risers. Construction starts about 7 a.m. each day. It's interrupted our sleep patterns. They've completely removed our street and sidewalk, so we have no access to our driveway, and have had to park a block away at a bank parking lot...again, pain in the ass as we have to walk through our neighbors yard to get to a sidewalk. However, we've remained pretty good sports about it, and kept our tempers in check until this last week.
They have now removed the complete street and sidewalk (was just a portion of it), it is an impossibility to get to your parking spot w/o walking through loose dirt and being among bulldozers. Let me put you through a verbal virtual walk to my car in the morning.
Woke up early by construction, pissed off. Walk to the end of my driveway, either step over or duck under the "caution" tape that is around my house. Step down the two foot dropoff from my driveway to the dirt road that now exists. Start my walk to my car. Try to keep my balance as most of the dirt is 6 inch by 6 inch mini-bulders, so try and find some compact dirt to walk on. Thank god it didn't rain. Shit, my shoes are getting muddy, and I got mud on my khakis. Walk passed guy working the backhoe, he looks surprised to see me. Throw my hand out as if I were surrendering to the guy backing up in the bulldozer so he sees me. Avoided falling, now at my parking lot. Step up 2 feet to the lot. Step over or duck the caution tape. Get to my car, find a stick and clean the mud off my shoes. Throw random fit of anger.
Twinegarden can attest to the fact I am not exaggerating at all, in fact I've probably left out some other obstacles. Although on the larger side, I am able-bodied. My wife hurt her ankle, and this is hell for her.
Don't they have to provide some kind of path?? I shouldn't have to play a real life fucking Super Mario Brothers to get to my car! Do I have a play here? I want to stop bitching about it, and do something, but I don't know what recourse I have.
Any advice is appreciated.
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Post by socal on Oct 1, 2008 10:22:57 GMT -6
I'm not sure of the local ordinances, but I'd think they should at least offer a board for you to walk across.
On the other hand, if you can suck it up for a bit - you'll have a nice new driveway & sidewalk you will likely be billed for.
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Post by bucketochicken on Oct 1, 2008 10:25:17 GMT -6
I'm sure there's some kind of bullshit eminent domain protection for the city that extends to its contractors. That sucks.
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Post by poncho72 on Oct 1, 2008 10:27:45 GMT -6
you'll have a nice new driveway & sidewalk you will likely be billed for. I was thinking the same thing Nacho. Ain't life grand! That sucks Itheus, you could always let the air out of the equipment tires when they aren't there, of course that would slow progress even more because of the work stopage. |
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Post by twinegarden on Oct 1, 2008 10:45:50 GMT -6
you'll have a nice new driveway & sidewalk you will likely be billed for. I was thinking the same thing Nacho. Ain't life grand! That sucks Itheus, you could always let the air out of the equipment tires when they aren't there, of course that would slow progress even more because of the work stopage. I don't understand how they could bill him for the new driveway/sidewalk when the whole neighborhood was against the construction to begin with. If anything, I think Dahl's (who caused the whole mess) should compensate the residents not only for the replacement of any driveways/sidewalks but also for the huge pain in the ass it has caused. Also, I don't know about you Itheus, but I am getting a little tired of waking up 3 hours early to the sound of jackhammers and construction tearing the street apart. Oh well, it will be nice once the whole thing is done, which shouldn't be too much longer. If you get charged for a new driveway and sidewalk I'll help you burn down city hall. |
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Post by scotthawk on Oct 1, 2008 11:04:29 GMT -6
Suck it up. Same thing happened to me a week after bringing our newborn son home from the hospital. Sure it sucked with all the noise and such (waking up the baby/no access to my driveway) but at some point they finished and the road is a lot nicer now.
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 11:13:36 GMT -6
I was thinking the same thing Nacho. Ain't life grand! That sucks Itheus, you could always let the air out of the equipment tires when they aren't there, of course that would slow progress even more because of the work stopage. I don't understand how they could bill him for the new driveway/sidewalk when the whole neighborhood was against the construction to begin with. If anything, I think Dahl's (who caused the whole mess) should compensate the residents not only for the replacement of any driveways/sidewalks but also for the huge pain in the ass it has caused. Also, I don't know about you Itheus, but I am getting a little tired of waking up 3 hours early to the sound of jackhammers and construction tearing the street apart. Oh well, it will be nice once the whole thing is done, which shouldn't be too much longer. If you get charged for a new driveway and sidewalk I'll help you burn down city hall. I'm lucky in the fact that I am a heavy sleeper, but waking up to pissed off wife who is a light sleeper is just as bad. The only reason I've been held my temper this long is because it will be improved, as far as the drainage goes. But there's got to be a 'right' way to do things. If I were handicapped, I would be completely confined to my house. OHHHH and another thing, the city hasn't picked up our trash in two weeks because they can't get to our house. |
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Post by isu is shit on Oct 1, 2008 11:40:14 GMT -6
Is this the construction that's going on on 34th and Ingersoll? Yeah, it is a pain in the ass. My buddy used to live there, but sold his house to Dahl's and moved.
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 11:43:52 GMT -6
Is this the construction that's going on on 34th and Ingersoll? Yeah, it is a pain in the ass. My buddy used to live there, but sold his house to Dahl's and moved. You got it. Was your buddy's name Larry? Dahl's can suck my ass. I'll never shop there again, and encourage other's to do the same. They are fucking with a historic neighborhood by putting in a cookie cutter suburban grocery store there. |
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 11:46:14 GMT -6
Suck it up. Same thing happened to me a week after bringing our newborn son home from the hospital. Sure it sucked with all the noise and such (waking up the baby/no access to my driveway) but at some point they finished and the road is a lot nicer now. Maybe you're ok with getting walked all over, however I am not. Again, we've been patient, but they're 2 weeks over schedule and not even close to being done. I'm willing to fight for a wife with a bum ankle, and a neighbor that's 7 months pregnant...so forgive me if I don't feel like 'sucking it up'. |
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Post by isu is shit on Oct 1, 2008 11:58:01 GMT -6
Is this the construction that's going on on 34th and Ingersoll? Yeah, it is a pain in the ass. My buddy used to live there, but sold his house to Dahl's and moved. You got it. Was your buddy's name Larry? Dahl's can suck my ass. I'll never shop there again, and encourage other's to do the same. They are fucking with a historic neighborhood by putting in a cookie cutter suburban grocery store there. Yeah, that's him. He was so against Dahl's expanding, but when they got the ok, he didn't want to deal with all the shit he'd have to go through for the construction, and when it's complete because I guess along 34th st. is where the trucks are going to be unloading shit. |
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 12:00:37 GMT -6
You got it. Was your buddy's name Larry? Dahl's can suck my ass. I'll never shop there again, and encourage other's to do the same. They are fucking with a historic neighborhood by putting in a cookie cutter suburban grocery store there. Yeah, that's him. He was so against Dahl's expanding, but when they got the ok, he didn't want to deal with all the shit he'd have to go through for the construction, and when it's complete because I guess along 34th st. is where the trucks are going to be unloading shit. I met him a few times, seems like a real good dude. We talked at a couple of the council meetings as well. I don't blame him, but I think he should've gotten more money for his house. Dahl's plans were completely contingent on his house being removed. But, like I said, I don't blame him for getting out of there. I would've just like to see him stick it to Dahl's a little more.  |
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Post by isu is shit on Oct 1, 2008 12:06:11 GMT -6
I grew up on 33rd and Pleasant St, about 2 blocks away from where you are now PromITheus, and that store is the only store that we shopped at. I didnt like the idea of them expanding either. It's a great neighborhood and the store it was before the expansion was just fine.
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Post by isu is shit on Oct 1, 2008 12:08:56 GMT -6
Yeah, that's him. He was so against Dahl's expanding, but when they got the ok, he didn't want to deal with all the shit he'd have to go through for the construction, and when it's complete because I guess along 34th st. is where the trucks are going to be unloading shit. I met him a few times, seems like a real good dude. We talked at a couple of the council meetings as well. I don't blame him, but I think he should've gotten more money for his house. Dahl's plans were completely contingent on his house being removed. But, like I said, I don't blame him for getting out of there. I would've just like to see him stick it to Dahl's a little more. If he would've sold it when Dahl's first asked, he would've gotten more money for it, but that was before they got the approval to expand. After the approval, they went down in price and basically was like take it or leave it, we'll still expand and drive around your house. The bank there didn't sell. What Larry said is they wanted $1 million to sell to Dahl's, and Dahl's wasn't going to pay that. |
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Post by twinegarden on Oct 1, 2008 12:13:33 GMT -6
You got it. Was your buddy's name Larry? Dahl's can suck my ass. I'll never shop there again, and encourage other's to do the same. They are fucking with a historic neighborhood by putting in a cookie cutter suburban grocery store there. Yeah, that's him. He was so against Dahl's expanding, but when they got the ok, he didn't want to deal with all the shit he'd have to go through for the construction, and when it's complete because I guess along 34th st. is where the trucks are going to be unloading shit. He is a pretty good dude but he sucks at Silver Strike. |
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Post by scotthawk on Oct 1, 2008 12:33:21 GMT -6
Suck it up. Same thing happened to me a week after bringing our newborn son home from the hospital. Sure it sucked with all the noise and such (waking up the baby/no access to my driveway) but at some point they finished and the road is a lot nicer now. Maybe you're ok with getting walked all over, however I am not. Again, we've been patient, but they're 2 weeks over schedule and not even close to being done. I'm willing to fight for a wife with a bum ankle, and a neighbor that's 7 months pregnant...so forgive me if I don't feel like 'sucking it up'. It's actually not a case of being walked over.....the facts are that they have your street all torn up and they aren't close to finishing. At this point there is nothing that you can do to make this go away until they finish even if it takes them until the end of October. Scream all you want, yell at the foreman, or threaten legal action or whatever and still your road will be done at their pace. Road construction seems never to go as planned or on time. You believing their completion timeline for a major project is a bit naive in my opinion. As far as I can tell, your wifes bum ankle was not caused because of this construction so they don't give 2 shits about it. Again, I say suck it up. |
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 12:41:36 GMT -6
Maybe you're ok with getting walked all over, however I am not. Again, we've been patient, but they're 2 weeks over schedule and not even close to being done. I'm willing to fight for a wife with a bum ankle, and a neighbor that's 7 months pregnant...so forgive me if I don't feel like 'sucking it up'. It's actually not a case of being walked over.....the facts are that they have your street all torn up and they aren't close to finishing. At this point there is nothing that you can do to make this go away until they finish even if it takes them until the end of October. Scream all you want, yell at the foreman, or threaten legal action or whatever and still your road will be done at their pace. Road construction seems never to go as planned or on time. You believing their completion timeline for a major project is a bit naive in my opinion. As far as I can tell, your wifes bum ankle was not caused because of this construction so they don't give 2 shits about it. Again, I say suck it up. There is right and wrong way to do something...agree there? They are wau over on their timeline. I would be in trouble in my job if I under delivered, so I don't agree with the notion of me being naive. I have not yelled at the foremen - they are doing their jobs (although barely - usually they just stand around smoking cigarettes). It's poor planning. There's no way you can convince me that there shouldn't be some kind of path of avoidance of this mess. I have taken a tumble, but luckily have not hurt myself. The city is fucking lucky that none of us are handicapped. We have pretty thick skin, and I'm a level-headed guy...about as laid back as can be. But there's no excuse for what we've been through. You make sound as if I'm some whiney, bitchy person that's playing the victim with your 'suck it up' comments - that's far from the truth. |
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Post by roxxstar on Oct 1, 2008 13:38:38 GMT -6
Suck it up you whiney bitch.
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 13:45:40 GMT -6
Suck it up you whiney bitch. At least I know where YOU live, you fucking hippy.  |
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Post by hawkeyescott on Oct 1, 2008 13:55:17 GMT -6
I was thinking the same thing Nacho. Ain't life grand! That sucks Itheus, you could always let the air out of the equipment tires when they aren't there, of course that would slow progress even more because of the work stopage. I don't understand how they could bill him for the new driveway/sidewalk when the whole neighborhood was against the construction to begin with. I don't think they will actually send him a bill for replacement, but you can sure as hell bet that his property taxes will be going up and that will cover the cost of the new driveway, sidewalk and street. |
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Post by scotthawk on Oct 1, 2008 14:10:52 GMT -6
I totally agree with you that there is a right way and wrong way to do something. I'd be in trouble in my job if I underdelivered also but I'm not in street construction either. Very rarely do I sit down at my desk and after starting something discover that the water main needs to be replaced or the sewer line needs some work or whatever they may be runnning into that was unexpected. I guess I'm saying that in a major construction project....they don't always know what they will find when they "dig in". I did not mean to suggest that you yelled at the foreman, I was suggesting that nothing you do right now will speed up the process or make the road done any sooner. Without knowing every specific detail of what the crew has done and why, I cannot agree with your "poor planning" accusation. It's good to hear that nobody has been hurt during all this construction, I think we can at least agree on that.
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 14:23:17 GMT -6
I totally agree with you that there is a right way and wrong way to do something. I'd be in trouble in my job if I underdelivered also but I'm not in street construction either. Very rarely do I sit down at my desk and after starting something discover that the water main needs to be replaced or the sewer line needs some work or whatever they may be runnning into that was unexpected. I guess I'm saying that in a major construction project....they don't always know what they will find when they "dig in". I did not mean to suggest that you yelled at the foreman, I was suggesting that nothing you do right now will speed up the process or make the road done any sooner. Without knowing every specific detail of what the crew has done and why, I cannot agree with your "poor planning" accusation. It's good to hear that nobody has been hurt during all this construction, I think we can at least agree on that. The poor planning comment is derived from the fact that there is no possible way to avoid walking in the middle of the construction zone and walking through mud to get the your vehicle. Like I said, I am an able bodied person and sometimes I get tripped up. I don't know enough about construction to tell you if the other stuff was poorly planned. I can tell you what I think of the "laborers" though!  That could be a whole other tangent (I kind of alluded to their work habits in another post). |
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Post by NotMyKid on Oct 1, 2008 14:50:15 GMT -6
Couldn't you just walk through your neighbor's front lawn (your neighbor's neighbor's front yard, etc) until you get passed the construction site?
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Post by Saggitariutt Jefferspin (ith) on Oct 1, 2008 15:05:04 GMT -6
Couldn't you just walk through your neighbor's front lawn (your neighbor's neighbor's front yard, etc) until you get passed the construction site? No, it's the whole street. There is currently no 34th street, from Woodland to Ingersoll. I would have to walk all the way to Ingersoll, cross on Ingersoll (right at the spot where someone got hit by a car and died a couple weeks ago) and then backtrack. Plus, they cut out all the way up to my neighbors hedges that go around his house, and they about 8 feet tall. It's hard to explain w/o showing you a picture...Twine is essentially my neighbor, maybe he can do a better job than me at explaining it. But it is truly unavoidable. |
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Post by TBELL on Oct 1, 2008 15:24:01 GMT -6
Call in "sick" because of construction and watch sports all day.
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