Malden Local Notifications PLUS

Please do a better job of notifying residents of DAILY construction work that will impact access to their property. Our neighborhood received a flyer last week that notified us of upcoming water main work, but that flyer listed no dates.

Yesterday, several people in our neighborhood were caught off guard by work being done that blocked our street, and blocked several driveways. If we had been notified in advance, residents could have parked on the street so they would not be stuck in their driveways while the work was being done.

There is not enough space in this neighborhood for everyone to park on the street all of the time. Simply giving us very broad notice of work being done, with no specific dates, is useless. We cannot ALL park on the street indefinitely until the project is completed.

Many residents are extremely concerned about the poor communication shown so far in the early stages of this project, and what we can expect as the project moves forward. Are we going to suddenly discover that we cannot leave our driveways again? Are we going to suddenly find ourselves with no water, with no advance notice?

This poor communication is inexcusable, and shows a lack of concern for the impact that this project has on residents. We can't work with you if you won't tell us what to expect, and when to expect it.

A previous SeeClickFix report on this same concern was never addressed; more poor communication, and keeping the residents in the dark.

Please do better for the tax paying residents in this community. We know these water main improvements need to be made, but we also need to be able to live our lives during the project.

I hope this report actually receives a reply, instead of more silence.

When is the City going to send someone down to Blomerth St. to see what is going on with this construction project???

First, a neighbor filed a report about driveway access being blocked for up to a week. That report received a dismissive reply that did not address the real issue. A second report about the same issue was filed by a different neighbor, explaining the problem in more detail. That report has been passed from Public Works to Engineering, like all prior reports, and is still awaiting a reply. Multiple reports about botched management on previous construction projects also received no reply from the Engineering Department, and nothing was done to address the residents' concerns.

Today, the contractor placed "No Parking" signs on the EVEN side of the street, and started demolition on the sidewalk on the even side, even though they have not completed work on the ODD side, and "No Parking" signs are still placed along the entire length of the odd side of the street. There are now "No Parking" signs on BOTH sides of the street.

I spoke with the jobsite foreman about this this afternoon. He assured me that they would remove all of the "No Parking" signs from the odd side of the street at the end of the day today. It is now after 6:00pm. All workers have left for the day. Signs still remain on BOTH sides of the street. We don't know where we're supposed to park now. Are they still working on the odd side AND the even side, at the same time? Neighbors are coming home from work, and the general confusion has caused many to give up and just park wherever they can, on both sides of the street.

HOW CAN WE WORK WITH THESE CONTRACTORS IF THEY WON'T WORK WITH US?? We want REAL answers about how this project is going to be managed going forward, not more empty lip service and daily surprises and disruptions. Please stop passing these reports around like a hot potato, from one department to the next. Someone from the City needs to grow a backbone and OVERSEE these contractors, and COMMUNICATE with residents in construction zones.

The sidewalks and roads on Granville Avenue beginning at Dale Street and moving towards Fairview are in very bad shape. They have been like this for at least 10 years with continuous pot hole patches each year. The condition of the sidewalks and roads makes it dangerous for children and strollers. I hope that we will see re-paved roads and sidewalks in this neighborhood. Many streets in the area have been repaved, however this street continues to crumble.

The center line on lower Bainbridge St. was removed and repainted at 1:30 AM on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. Firstly, that was absolutely ridiculous to even occur in the first place and I, among other residents, "thank you" for waking us up for that. However, now there is another problem that was easily foreseeable. The new line was moved too far over and now chokes the street even more. Personally, I'd like to see how a firetruck or snowplow can stay within that restricted lane when they come down the street without potentially causing damage or possibly an accident. The original line was fine, if parking was the problem, how about putting up a sign first. Also now the newly paved street has a grooved line in the center, please fix.

The timing of the lights at this intersection is causing dangerous and frustrating driving conditions. Cars keep getting stuck in the intersection, blocking oncoming traffic, and congestion is absurd at even low traffic times because one light turns green and another red light is encountered seconds away and now allowing traffic to flow. Please adjust.

This is a repeat of the concern addressed by a neighbor in Issue #16619259. The reply given by the Engineering Department did not address what is *really* happening on our street. They simply described what is *supposed* to happen, then closed the report. This does not help the residents impacted by this construction in any way.

The Engineering Department Stated:
"The typical practice for the construction of new concrete driveways is for the Contractor to excavate the old driveway and backfill with gravel so that it is passable until they are ready to form the driveway for the new concrete. Once they are ready to form they will remove the gravel starting the driveway closure. They then pour the new concrete the following day. On the third day they place the first layer of asphalt which allows the driveway to be open again."

Well, if that were really happening, we'd have no reason to file a report. Here's what's ACTUALLY happening:

The construction crew removes the concrete and a section of the driveway, leaving a large, impassable trench for several days, with NO GRAVEL, no asphalt, etc.., for up to 6 days in some cases. I have watched several of my neighbors lose access to their driveways for up to a week before any gravel or asphalt patch was put down to make the driveway usable.

One of my neighbors even got desperate enough to take matters into his own hands, and used his own wheelbarrow and shovel to take gravel from the huge pile that the contractor left in the street, and fill in his own driveway so that he could use it. Why are residents forced to do the contractor's job that the City is paying for so that we can use our driveways?????

We were told at the start of this project that we may lose access to our driveways for 72 hours. Please work with the contractor to ensure that they are completing the work in the manner that the Engineering Department described.

Chestnut St. is awful. Left in a mess I assume all weekend, Can’t get it in my driveway, equipment everywhere, every tree looks like it was hit by a truck. This is terrible.

This National Grid project that has turned Ferry Street into an outright DISASTER AREA, once completed SHOULD INCLUDE (just as our neighbors in Everett) FULL REPAVEMENT OF THE ENTIRE DISRUPTED ROADWAY! How can Malden allow National Grid to leave the area and get away with only patching??! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD! Everett has repaved from Glendale Square right up to the Malden line! MALDEN residents DESERVE THE SAME! Someone from the city should make sure National Grid does not just tear up our roadway for their benefit, just patch and leave! As a long time Malden taxpayer I find this TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! WE DESERVE BETTER! SOMEONE NEEDS TO TAKE A STAND AND SPEAK UP!