For the last several months residents of Noel Avenue have been contacting the city via 311 about a utility pole. Despite months of calls the pole came crashing down damaging property.
The utility pole had been sagging and the wires it supported were slowly dropping. It gotten so bad that neighbors would have to run outside every time someone heard a truck coming to make sure the truck didn’t hit the wires.
The wires had dropped so low they even tried to prop up the wires with lumber to let trucks by.
Last they we had the Fire Department come by to see if they could lift the wires but they couldn’t.
Every call they made Con Ed and Verizon played the blame game. Con-ed said it was Verizons job…Verizon said it was Con Eds job.
It all came crashing down when a Parks Department truck was driving down Noel with a large tree removal boom. The wires hooked onto the truck and then there was a huge shudder – as the wires snapped the pole like a twig.
The the pole was ripped down as well as two electrical panels and the electrical conduit off two homes. There were large sparks which burnt siding. Both houses lost power immediately and had to use generators. No one was hurt and there were no structural fires – luckily.
We blamed Con-Ed for not stepping in and preventing this!
Today I stumbled across an accident scene at Allen and Dictum where someone got hit by a car – or so I thought.
There were three people (2 Male, 1 Female) who said they were walking from “Ova Der” [meaning from Knapp Street] and “playin’” in the street at Dictum when a car coming down Allen hit the woman. A friend of the pedestrian who was struck said “this n_____ [the motorist] tried to slow down three times and I tried to tell her to get out the way but – he hit the girl in da leg.”
The motorist claimed that they immediately wanted money instead of calling 911; the motorist was uncomfortable with that and did not hesitate to call 911.
After she was checked out by EMS and refused a hospital trip, I asked the overtly limping woman if she was alright and why she and her friends were playing in the street. She replied “You know what Mister, these streets are just too small”. “We weren’t playing we were just walking”.
The whole thing didn’t smell right, especially since a few moments later she was walking briskly down Gerritsen Avenue looking for her friends who left her at the scene.
Granted Allen Avenue can be a dangerous avenue when people are speeding, but here is the moral of the story. If you’re involved in an accident call 911, it’s the easiest thing to do and it will protect you from unscrupulous characters trying to shake you down for cash.
In a bit of odd news a Peppridge farm truck broke down right in the middle of the avenue blocking traffic for a bit. The driver rushed to move his vehicle out of the way while taking all of the bread out of the truck to wait for (presumably) another truck.
It’s not everyday you see Gerritsen Avenue lined with plastic pallets filled with amazing double wrapped bread.
