UPDATE: Seems we built a bonfire under Ravena-Coeymans’ highway/public works departments butts. Two days after we published this article the Ravena-Coeymans dolts woke up and properly paved the mudpies on Rt 144 in the hamlet of Coeymans, oddly right across from the town garage! Was it coïncidence or was it the wake-up call we sent?

The Good News is: Ravena is doing much needed roadwork. The Bad News is: The Ravena Department of Public Works under the incompetent direction of fire-bug Henry Traver is doing the work. The Problem is: The Ravena Department of Public Works flunked sandbox and mudpies; They apparently don’t know their arses from their shovels—You know, those things they’re constantly leaning on to support their massive bulks!

HOW MANY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TAX DOLLARS ARE BEING WASTED BY INCOMPETENT ROADWORK?

Question: What do Henry Traver of the Village of Ravena Public Works Department and Denis Jordan of the New Baltimore Highway Department have in common?
Answer: No, not setting fires. They both haven’t a clue, they’re both robbing us blind, we’re paying both exhorbitant salaries and benefits to waste taxpayer money.

We received a call from a Ravena resident to come down an check out the roadwork being done in Ravena. We had already seen the Ravena Department of Public Works and their part-time borrowed laborers from the Ravena Filtration Plant botching something up on Central Avenue but we had to respond to the resident’s request, so we meandered over to Central Avenue, then to Western Avenue. What a mess!

We’re just wondering how many tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars are being squandered by the bunch of clowns making believe they know how to resurface a street. We couldn’t believe what we saw so we photographed it and posted it as a slide show above.

What we don’t understand is how our communities can pay these bloated morons salaries in the high 50’s plus benefits and pensions to waste money and resources.

This is how Ravena, Coeymans and New Baltimore manage your tax dollars!

First of all, it seems they just spread some muck down on the streets and then threw some loose stone on top of it. Silly walruses apparently thought that would do the trick and keep them in their jobs and pensions. Try again! The stone is loose and is flying all over the place, leaving bald spots where cars have skid over the stone. In other places, the stone is so thin, that the cracks in the street show through. Driving down Central and Western Avenues, we left a pretty respectable dust cloud and flying gravel in our wake. But there’s another problem: they don’t seem to have been able to get uniform stone, and there are some pretty large pebbles in the street now that will probably cause some pretty respectable damage to a paint job or a windshield when they’re flung up by passing vehicles.

We’re just waiting for the next heavy rain to see all of the stone washed downhill…or for the street sweepers to come down the street and sweep up all of the loose stone. Maybe Henry Traver or mayor Bill “Moose” Misuraca will then sell it back to the village of Ravena for the Department of Public Works to spread on the streets again. Nice scam!

Not only does the loose stone fly all over the place when a car passes over it, and not only is there the danger that the larger stones—some actually measuring and inch or two across—will damage property and may cause injuries to pedestrians, there’s the problem of stopping distance on the loose stone. Try applying your brakes on the stuff!

So Traver, Misuraca, what’s going to happen when the next heavy rain comes down and washes it all away, or the street sweepers collect it, or when the snow plows scrape it all up—assuming it lasts until the first snowfall.

Well, the NYS Department of Troglodites botched up the repairs under the LaFarge converyor overpass this summer, leaving Route 144 worse than it was before with bumps, mounds and troughs. So they came back last week and redid the work. Nice job security. Right? Screw it up and do it again at taxpayer expense!

And what about the professional job the Troglodites did on Rt 144 in the hamlet of Coeymans? They dug up the roadway, dumped some gravel and dirt into the holes and left. now we have bigger holes! Nice Job! So what’s the town of Coeymans going to do about that, now? Probably re-zone it ;)

The Town of New Baltimore Is No Better!

Still More Monkey’s With Shovels!

What we don’t understand is how our communities can pay these bloated morons salaries in the high 50’s to waste money and resources. It seems it’s characteristic of this area to hire incompetents to head the highway and public works departments. Ravena and Coeymans aren’t the only ones with problems in public works; they share that dubious distinction with the Town of New Baltimore. Just take a ride through New Baltimore and see how the New Baltimore Highway superintendent, Denis Jordan, and his crew of flying jackasses patch potholes! Throw in a couple shovels of cold patch, don’t bother to tamp it down, and take off. All it takes is three cars passing over the “work” and Voilà! The return of the pothole! Where’d the cold patch go? Check the bottoms of your shoes and the undercarriage of your car!

Budget time is coming up, neighbors. They’ll be looking for more money to waste next year and they’ll want their salaries increased, too. We think you’d better wake up and participate in those budget meetings—that is, if the crooks and their minions even open the meetings to the public—and start demanding some quality for your tax dollars—and some competent people to do the work.

But Only If You Speak Up! We deserve better!

The Editor