Amanda H

For the second weekend in a row the gate to the monthly parking area is not working. It stopped working on Friday evening. The gate was open yesterday (and confused non-monthly parkers filled up the lot so there were no parking spaces for monthly parkers). Today, the gate is down (and as the photo shows, the lot is nearly empty). There is no attendant today to open the gate. The Marketplace lot is currently full, so I parked on the street several blocks away.

Casella was moving construction waste between ~5:15am and 5:45am around Bank and Church Streets. The driver was swapping a dumpster with construction debris. I spoke with the driver and he said he was told to do it at this time to avoid cars. I told him the noise ordinance prohibits machinery and construction noise "except in emergency situations” between 9pm and 7am. This was not an emergency. The noise ordinance is at the below links:

https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CJC/Noise-Ordinance-and-Fines
http://www.myburlingtonapartment.com/BURLINGTONNOISECONTROLORDINANCE.pdf

I called the Burlington Police with the Casella driver and requested that an officer come out to meet with us. The driver left before the officer arrived. When the driver left, I called the police back to tell them they no longer needed to come. Instead I spoke with sergeant Tom Nash on the phone. I asked him to issue a ticket. He opened incident 18bu27200 for this incident. I gave him the truck’s DOT#682884 and the license plate # BLP994. He said he would call Casella. Sergeant Nash said tickets for this kind of incident are generally issued for $50, so they aren’t much of a deterrence. I asked why the ticket wouldn’t be for $200 as given on the city’s website (https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CJC/Noise-Ordinance-and-Fines). He said the amount of the fine is determined by the prosecutor. He said I would also need to provide a sworn statement and I said I would be willing to do that.

The bottom row of mailboxes was not properly closed and locked when the mail was delivered on Wednesday (9/19). The photos show what I found when I arrived home.
This poses two immediate issues, our mail is exposed to everyone walking by on the Church Street Marketplace and because the open mailboxes block egress from the front door of the building, this is a hazard if there were to be a fire.
Our mailboxes are left open like this from time to time (maybe once every couple of months) and it sometimes happens a few days in a row or several times in a week or two and then won't happen again for a while (like our normal postal carrier is not around and then returns). By the time we get home after work, the Post Office is closed and we don't know who to contact to have it fixed.
It just occurred to me to use SeeClickFix to report this type of issue. I hope you will make it "US Postal Service" a category.

DPW began working before 6:30am this morning on an emergency clog that threatened to create a sewage back-up into buildings in the area. John (shown in the photo) was threading a camera into the pipes. He said there was a massive grease clog. The grease is likely from restaurants not properly disposing of oils. I wonder if there can be better outreach and enforcement to minimize emergency after-hours work by DPW.

Burlington Electric began working on Church Street between Bank and Perl Street and Cherry Streets sometime before 3am this morning (when I was first awakened by the noise and lights). There are 5 trucks parked on the street idling with works lights on. This was taking place directly below multiple residences. The men doing the work said this had to be done after 2am so as not to disturb the businesses and that they expected to be done by 6am. They seemed confused when I told them that is the time I get up in the morning to go to work.
The resident stakeholders should have been alerted that this was being done. There was no note on my door, I was not alerted by email or phone (even though I am a BED customer and BED has both my email, for ebilling, and phone #) and there was nothing in Front Porch Forum.
The men working had no idea people lived on Church and Cherry streets. I asked if any of the trucks could have their engines turned off to decrease the noise level and two of them could be and were turned off at my request.
I would like to know what work was being done that couldn’t be done during the daytime hours beginning at 7am? Does BED need a permit to work at this time of night? Why weren’t residents stakeholders alerted this work was to be done?

Brownish water coming from taps at 1pm today (water was fine at 9am when I last used it). I have run the water for ~10 minutes and it is less brown, but still somewhat brown with particulates (see photo). It is also still sputtering a bit after 10 minutes (though less than when the water was first turned on).

There is a cloudy turquoise liquid going into a storm drain in the alley between Captain Tom's Tiki Bar @ Ken's Pizza and The Farm House Restaurant. It looks like it could be diluted paint or a cleaning solution, but it could be something else.

An individual was injured when they brushed up against the edge of a lamppost at the south-east corner of Carrigan Dr and Beaumont St intersection leading to the Medical Center. There is a significant, sharp, rough, edge of metal near the base of the lamppost (see photos). The resulting gash on the leg required a trip to the Emergency Department.
The lamppost is pole #11082 and I was told the black poles are owned by the City of Burlington and Green Poles are owned by UVM, so I think this pole is owned by the City of Burlington.

A delivery truck for Panera got stuck on Church Street between 5am-6:30am this morning. I spoke with the delivery man who was the rider in the truck. He said they normally park on Cherry Street for deliveries (which I have noticed to be the case). He said he advised this driver to do the same today and not drive on Church Street but that the driver was not the usual driver, and didn't take his advice. After not being able to make the turn from Church Street onto Cherry or Bank Streets because of the smaller turning radius, the driver eventually backed down the full length of Church Street from Cherry Street to Main Street. This was dangerous for the pedestrians on the street and to the infrastructure of Church Street.
These larger 40'+ delivery trucks (used by Panera and Starbucks, though perhaps other businesses too) encounter problems navigating the turns on Church Street. On September 5 of last year (2016), a Starbucks delivery truck got stuck when trying to make the turn from Church Street onto Bank Street. It ran into the pole on the north/east corner of Church and Bank Street and pulled down the American flag on the pole. I think it might be worth considering a prohibition of trucks larger than 20' on Church Street. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that different drivers deliver each week and sometimes they deliver without a second rider in the truck. If this had been the case today, this would have been an even greater danger for others on Church Street; the delivery rider walked behind the truck to clear the way as it backed down the street. The driver had difficulty navigating backward on Church Street for the three blocks even with the second person's assistance.

A sign was cut off some time ago and part of the metal post was left protruding from the sidewalk. I have seen several people trip over it and finally decided I needed to report it when I saw an older woman laden with bags trip and fall to the ground yesterday.

This picture was taken a couple of months ago when I saw someone trip and planned to report it. Since then it appears to have been spray-painted white.

The water coming out of our kitchen tap is brown this morning.

The greenbelt on the north (mall) side of Bank Street is not being well maintained. The grass is overgrown and up to my knees. It is a sorry sight for anyone walking down the street (as I do ~twice a day). It is quite a difference from the greenbelts on the south side of Bank Street. I don't know if the city or the mall is responsible for maintaining this, but some group should be taking care of it this summer.