Shenanigans on the Boulevard

by Sewer Problems: Continued

By Dennis Evanosky

Andes Construction, contractor with the Public Works Agency of the city of Oakland to rehab the sanitary sewers in the Laurel/Dimond area, has now escalated its violations. A $50,000 fine could be levied for failure to comply. In this case our water supply is at stake.

On Monday, November 10, the company made an excavation at the point where the sewer line crosses the Sequoia Aqueduct (water supply managed by EBMUD). The State of California requires notification to Underground Services Alert (USA). I'm sure you've noticed the signs that say: "Before You Dig, Call; it's the Law."

But it appears the Andes crew flouted the law and simply dug without any EBMUD, PG&E, or SBC markings. The Sequoia Aqueduct lies somewhere right below where Andes' crew was digging.

Had Andes notified USA, then at the very least EBMUD, PG&E, and SBC would have come to the site to assure the company that it was safe to dig. I'm sure you've noticed what I call "industrial graffiti": someone has scrawled "no EBMUD" in blue on a sidewalk, or PG&E has come and sprayed yellow lines (for gas) or red lines (for power) on the pavement to show where these lines run. Without any blue EBMUD markings, the crew could have punctured the aqueduct and caused a real crisis.

The saga continues with Andes Construction's lack of understanding of its creek protection permit. In the very same neighborhood where the company's crew dug without a U.S.A., its crew chose to ignore creek permit directives.

The creek permit that covers Andes' work on the Berlin Branch of Peralta Creek did not anticipate any excavation or stockpiling of material. "The first two things the crew did upon arriving on the scene were to excavate and stockpile," my source, Andrew Vincent said.

A Hillview Street neighbor noticed a crew digging a hole "sufficient to bury a short person." When she asked the crew if they had a permit to work on the creek, they said they didn't know. Once the neighbor pressed her inquiry, the foreman appeared. Even he did not know if the company had a permit.

"Digging here is no joke," the neighbor told me. "Had the crew not been careful, trees could have fallen and affected the properties along the creek."

The neighbor also questioned the crew working on the property along the creek, ostensibly without a permit, on Monday, November 10, a city holiday, a day when the city inspector was off. (The same day they were digging around the Sequoia Aqueduct without notifying USA.)

"We are only asking that the workers be safe, that our neighborhood be safe and that this job is done safely," the neighbor said.

Andes work continues to plague another neighborhood where negligence caused a sewer to overflow and backup into a basement last month. A City Environmental Specialist called us asking to see first-hand where raw sewage had leaked into the catch basin in the 4100 block of Coolidge Avenue. This catch basin flows into the Curran Branch of Peralta Creek, and the specialist hoped to monitor the situation. As we walked along Coolidge, the specialist pointed to a rainbow not in the sky, but a rainbow oil sheen in the water flowing into the catch basin.

"We traced a rainbow of oil colors and fuel odor to where the Andes Construction crew had just finished compacting a cold-patch pavement repair," said Vincent.

When the city inspector responsible for the job Andes is doing appeared, Vincent pointed out the fuel spill to him. The inspector called the Andes foreman to the site, who called the crewback to the scene. Then the fun began. The crew took a page from the Andes Construction superintendent who blamed Vincent for plugging the sewer last month.

"When the crew arrived on the scene and was asked about the fuel spill, they pointed to a driveway and said the neighbor had dumped oil there," Vincent said.

The specialist told the crew that the oil was not coming from a neighbor's driveway.

"At this point I noticed fuel dripping from the bed of the Andes truck and a new rainbow sheen spreading down the street," Vincent said.

When the specialist instructed the crew to clean the spill, they couldn't. They had no spill-control material on the job. The Andes foreman promised that the crew would keep spill-control material on the job from now on.

If you've been following this story, you know that this is not the first time we've caught Andes without the proper materials on its trucks. Will it be the last? We're watching. Stay tuned.

I'm a bit tired of just watching and reporting, though. Why can't we get the person responsible for this mess to take responsibility? I'm speaking about the Director of Public Works, Claudette R. Ford.

If you have followed this story and would like to assure a proper job did you know this job went to the highest bidder? let Ford know at crford\@oaklandnet.com, or call her at 238-3961.