Sunday, September 10, 2017

New Orleans can't get out of its own way.

Once again, New Orleans provides a lesson in what not to do.   The actual work of paving a road should be a simple process - unless the city or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is involved.  The Times-Picayune reported last week:


Several storm drains along Uptown streets were paved over during construction of major federal drainage projects, leaving city officials scrambling to cast blame and discover who must clean them up.

“This is a huge issue for us,” said Jeff Hebert, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s chief administrative officer.

Councilman Jason Williams brought up Thursday (Sept. 7) that newly rolled asphalt was partially or fully blocking some drains along Napoleon and Jefferson avenues between St. Charles and South Claiborne avenues. Those streets are being redone as major parts of the federal Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Program, which is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The administration isn’t sure at this point whether the corps or the city is on the hook to clear the drains. Interim Public Works Director Dani Galloway said she is looking for any documentation that her predecessor, Mark Jernigan, had signed off on the street work done by the corps’ contractors. If she finds it, then it becomes the city’s responsibility to fix the drains under its arrangement with the corps over SELA, she said.

If the city never approved the completed work, then the corps would have to fix them, Galloway said. She described several examples of blocked drains discovered on South Claiborne that the corps must fix before the city approves the end of that project.
That sounds similar to a Jackson engineering firm, project manager, whatever its classification is, that repaves roads and turns manhole covers into giant potholes by raising the asphalt around them.  Let the finger-pointing begin. 

Next came a scrum over a subject familiar to Jackson residents: minority-participation in government contracts v. lowest possible price: 

Whenever your leaders start publicly looking for ways to get around the bid laws, watch out. 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jackson elected officials should watch this closely. Might be a good chance to hire another city worker if and when New Orleans finds who to blame and fire.

Anonymous said...

What credible contractor would knowingly pave over a drain? Come on.... This crap has been going on down there since the late 1800's. There are several large contractors who went into business at the turn of the 1900's and one still sits prominent today. They still get all the work due to the federal government casting it down to them. But, after all, what Construction company would know the ins and outs of politics down there but them? Those companies became very very wealthy and powerful. They had no need to venture outside of their domain since the Feds were throwing money left and right and that city Also, the environmental issues area a deterrent to most Construction Comapnies from out of state to compete. You have to know what your dealing with since it's built on cotton bales and terrible soil.

The Corp needs to be held accountable for a lot of issues that take place there. "Yep, we the government an' we here to help ya'...". If you take notice out of state Construction companies cannot perform Civil Construction work there. It will never change as long as politics, The Corp and payoffs take place.

Anonymous said...

New Orleans should be a "world class city and tourist destination", in reality it is a "world class ghetto". IMHO

Anonymous said...

Jackson's problems have much to do with an ever shrinking tax base and an historic disparity in balance of economic power. New Orleans problems are historic and pretty unique and due to Louisiana political attitudes. Don't be surprised at any crazy public expenditures and graft you hear about from New Orleans, it's cultural. When people try to make a correlation between Jackson and New Orleans they miss the point. New Orleans stands alone.

Anonymous said...

I hope this doesn't affect the parade routes during Carnival.

Anonymous said...

Jackson's problems have much to do with an ever shrinking tax base and an historic disparity in balance of economic power

Enjoy your Sunday helping of apologia.

Anonymous said...

That's what a minority contractor would do.

Anonymous said...

5:08 is absolutely correct BUT having lived in both places NOLA and Chimneyville--I submit the following observation: NOLA just happened to be WAAAAY ahead of the trend in indolence, ignorance, political corruption," DIVERSITY SHAKEDOWNS ", and the concept of the city fathers' actually believing the were ROYALTY as a consequence of Mardi Gras--- NOLA was actually saved by Katrina but in SPITE of that respite has now resumed the race to the bottom----although Jackson doesn't have the Mardi Gras royalty syndrome we certainly exhibit ALL the other problems of NOLA WITHOUT any restaurants or tourism dollars-
--what's REALLY alarming is most metropolitan areas in the US (especially those led by democrats)exhibit the same characteristics---

Anonymous said...

Jackson's present situation has to do with ignorance and inept leadership of a city lacking economic stability. The ignorance may be not be new but the economic instability is relatively recent. New Orleans situation has Always been a matter of systemic corruption deeply engrained. Not new. Some of the faces have changed but its still NOLA and simply because some of the faces are now black, it doesn't make it Jackson, Mississippi.

Previous Paving Experience said...

"That sounds similar to a Jackson engineering firm, project manager, whatever its classification is, that repaves roads and turns manhole covers into giant potholes by raising the asphalt around them. Let the finger-pointing begin."

With regard to Ridgewood Rd. at least between Old Canton and Briarwood, appears to me the current (new) riding pavement is what is known as "binder". It is the pavement that is typically applied over what is known as "black base" and has a larger aggregate material in it than the final paving which is known as "surface". The "surface" paving has yet to be applied; it will probably be either 1 or 2 inches and the tell tale sign is the milled edge of the old pavement against the curb and gutter. The surface will meet flush with that and cover the entire existing street. The current striping is only temporary, and the surface will tie in flush with that wheel banging joint at Old Canton Road. As far as the manholes and water valve covers, yes, they need to be adjusted upwards for the new paving. They'll put a "ring" to adjust the manholes, and the water valve covers are very coarsely threaded---they get turned up and down as needed to meet the new surface. Now, as for ANY Engineering outfit that designs the sanitary sewer, storm drain sewer or water lines in the wheel lane where you drive over them and not in the center of the travel lane so you can straddle them isn't much of an Engineering outfit in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

They have their mayoral politics, Jackson has its mayoral politics. Both have systemic problems of disrepair and blight-creep. Jackson and New Orleans are plagued with old-boy processes and only the players are new-boys. Nobody cares in either city to get things on an orderly track with citizen/visitor perception in the equation. The only thing missing in the whole comparison is Rudy. Where is Rudy? He could solve all of this with the snap of some fingers and the tap of some heels. Rudy knows man-hole covers too.

Anonymous said...

They paved over some drains!!!! Where is all of the piss and vomit gonna go!!??

Anonymous said...

@4:26AM...
Yep, Rudy Warnock would do a secret no-bid $2,000,000 manhole study, then declare an emergency manhole situation that requires repairs to begin immediately. Of course, since there is no time to get bids, he would begin the immediate salvation of the city with a no-bid engineering project without a price cap. After running up $10,000,000 in "engineering" fees over the course of 2 weeks, he would be fired. He would then sue the city for $10 million in "work product" and want penalties to boot.

Wait, haven't we seen this scenario multiple times before. Warnock has this shit down to a fine art.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't know this dude Rudy from Joe shit the rag man but based on all I've seen and read in the local rags over the last several years he is either a genius or the bitchers are the dumb as a box of rocks OR BOTH!!

Anonymous said...

And this is what happens when minority contractors win bids they have no business winning, also known in the black community as "The Hook-Up"

Anonymous said...

4:00 We all know that white contractors have never won a contract by using political influence or "the hook up". Black people invented corruption. They also invented poor service.

Fred said...

I'd like to believe that what Previous Paving Experience is true. My bet is that by the time they get around to the final step, the road will need to be repaved. Again.

I've never seen a city move so slowly to get things done. While Melton used to call Jackson the "City of Grace and Benevolence", I think it's "The City of Unintended Consequences". Our "leaders" are always one step behind.

Witness the "repairs" to the sinkhole on Ridgewood Road south of Northside Drive. It took two months to fix. Now that the work is done, it's merely a hazardous dip in the road.

Will the work ever really get done? Probably not. In Jackson, "almost good enough" is as good as it gets. The concept of excellence is foreign to the people in charge.

Anonymous said...

All this comparing Jackson to Nola and which one is worse/more corrupt/more ghetto-ish, but no one has asked the most important question...Nola has the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, what does Jackson have? Fondren Public?

Fred said...

Well, there's the Farish Street historical District. No. Wait...


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