A Little Tap Dancing By The City Public Information Officer
So Tonya Durrell, representing the Public Works Office on Project Main St. Jackhammer, did respond to a request from a Higgins resident to explain why the work was necessary during the 9pm - 5am timeframe (see previous post). BUT she neglected to answer the core question and instead did a good job of filibustering while another night of extreme noise has commenced. And she did not even follow the request to “Reply to All” so that our mailing list would be copied with her verbose non-explanation- here’s her member, and the reply seeking to corner Ms. Durrell into answering the original question:
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Good Afternoon Ms. (higgins resident)
Thank you for taking the time to write about your concerns with the Police Administration Building project. I know that night work is never easy for the residents that are impacted. Please know that I have spoken to the contractor and he is committed to doing the noisiest work earlier in the evening. I will continue to coordinate with the contractor and project inspector to make sure every effort is made to minimize the impacts to you and other residents. As you probably know, there are many crews working on this project every day and safety must remain a top priority. With this in mind, only a certain number of crews can work on the site safely and effectively.
We appreciate your support and patience as we work to complete this very important project. If you have any other questions or comments, please fee free to call me at the number below. For urgent matters you may call me on my cell at (213) 798-6085.
Thank you,
Tonya Durrell
Public Information Officer
Dept. Public Works Public Affairs Office
200 N. Spring Street, LA 90012
M-165
(213) 978-0328
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Thank you for getting back to us, Ms. Durrell. I appreciate your response, as far as it went. However, I don’t believe the core question has been answered yet. Why is it that this work MUST be done overnight? And secondarily - though almost as important - why is it that the residents of this building have only been informed of the fact of the work and its scheduling after the decisions have been made? Who is making these decisions?
As I mentioned in my earlier email, we are bearing an unreasonable burden. I don’t believe I’m alone in seeing my concentration and productivity plummet this week from seriously disrupted sleep night AND day. I believe we are entitiled to a more thorough explanation than we’ve been given.Everyone who has heard about this situation has the same reaction. I suspect you do, too.Unfortunately, as a Public Information Officer, you get the duty. We want the answers.
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Time to get out the popcorn and wait for round 2 of “Dancing with the Public Works Department” to commence…