The Build it Back Penguins - "Just Smile and Wave Boys!"

The "Build it Back" Penguins!

West 12th Road at 10:35 am

On Saturday morning, at approximately 9:20 am, a contractor working on a property on the south side of West 12th Road had effectively blocked access to any vehicles, either off or onto the street while conducting a concrete pour.

At 9:30 am a furniture delivery truck was denied access to the bay end of the block requiring the delivery staff to park at the top of West 12th Road and make several trips to the bay end of the block in order to deliver the furniture items in question.

The driver advised me that he had walked down the street to speak with the contractor about possibly moving some equipment to allow him access but, according to the driver, "I don't think he understood me and he simply waved me away, not responding at all." 

It should be noted that this was the second attempt to deliver the heavy and large furniture items in question to the house as it had been initially cancelled earlier in the week because they could not obtain access to West 12th Road because of contractor street blockage.  We rescheduled for Saturday morning assuming that the street would be clear at that time. 

Additionally, between 9:30 and 10:20 am, my daughter spoke several times with the contractor in question, explaining that she had to leave for work.  On each occasion the contractor simply smiled and waved at my daughter and continued with his work, not speaking a word in response to my daughters request.

West 12th Road at 10:55 am

At approximately 10:35 am we went out onto the street and starting taking several photographs of what was going on and it was only at that time that the contractor appeared interested and started to arrange for unimpeded street access by placing the equipment  parallel to the properties being worked on (pictured above) where they should have been in the first place.  My daughter was finally able to exit the street at 11 am after a delay of 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Our ongoing attempts to politely deal with some of these Build it Back contractors have left us with the annoying feeling that there are some contractors who apparently think they don't have to interact with residents still living on the street, with anything more than lip service or in some instances like above, silence and a wave.

This entire Build it Back Circus is starting to remind me of the end of the Dreamworks 2005 film, Madagascar, where the penguins simply lie about on the beach ignoring all the other animals attempting to leave the island with the attitude of "Smile and wave boys, smile and wave!"