“DC contracted 3 companies and no one knows that the other is doing.”

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by Prince Of Petworth January 24, 2017 at 3:40 pm 9 Comments

water tree

“Dear PoPville,

I seem to remember DC requiring permits to remove a tree. The DC water construction on First street NW is haphazard and the workers are unskilled. DC contracted 3 companies and no one knows that the other is doing. Think any readers would have any advice on how to report this?”

1st St Resident

I agree it’s totally unorganized and hate it as well. But…not being snarky….are you sure you didn’t see a discarded Christmas tree laying on the ground? They’re all being picked up right about now.

My sidewalk and entire front garden/landscaping was kindly ripped up over Christmas. Also, incredibly lazy they just used street asphalt to patch the sidewalks rather than the correct concrete. It’s pretty unsightly to see it every four feet along the street.
- Dc_anon
  
  That’s temporary, they’ll replace all the cement at once when their finished rather that do it piecemeal, same with the street. That’s what happened when dcwster redid the P st lines south of you. Unlike pepco and Washington gas, their finished street and sidewalk repairs are pretty good…It just takes a while.
  - 1st St Resident
    
    Whew. Thank you. Fingers crossed!
Rob

That shrub/small tree doesn’t look to be the required trunk size to require any special practices or an arborist. Call dcra, doee, or dpr.
dunning-kruger

The asphalt isn’t lazy it is incredibly normal and temporary.
.
Shoveling some asphalt into a hole is doable by any guy on the job and allows people to walk on it immediately. Pouring a concrete sidewalk takes a bit more skill, is weather dependent, requires water, a cement mixer (or truck), probably some gravel, etc. I’m sure with the ongoing construction they aren’t in a huge hurry to get the concrete contractor over as they are probably trying to save money by doing it all in one shot (buy a truckload) so it may seem like they are “done” over there but around the corner they aren’t, thus the wait for economies of scale.
.
TBH it sounds like the OP doesn’t know anything about the construction business which is highly specialized and it is normal for there to be 3 contractors (probably 3 trades) and normal for a guy on the job to be clueless about the contract of another company on the same job… it is someone’s job to know what each contractor is doing.
- Yep
  
  Seriously, time and time again, these people prove to have no idea what they’re talking about re: DDOT, DCWater, etc. construction and projects. You’re absolutely right about the asphalt cold seal, and I guarantee that no government agency or contractor is removing trees without legal authorization. Our local government has great outreach personnel on staff (I’ve worked with them before!) that will happily answer questions and provide information. When I worked with DDOT we would send letters at least a week in advance to let people know what the work was going to be, when it was happening, and who to contact with questions. I often feel that people prefer to remain ignorant and have something to complain about, hence so many posts like these.
  - 1st St Resident
    
    “These people” have been in a three year+ construction zone with flooding, unannounced water shutoffs, power failures, destruction of personal property, and month-long street closures that have spiked crime, so please forgive us if we’ve lowered our expectations substantially.
Diane

They’ve removed several trees along Connecticut in front of the Zoo. Seemingly healthy trees according to someone I talked to from the Zoo. I wish someone would speak for the trees which they seem to be chopping as fast as they please.
jrenaut

DC Water is extremely responsive on Twitter – they’ve gotten construction crews to comply with the Safe Accommodations Act when I’ve notified them of violations.

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