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CAT Tracks for August 11, 2012
CONSTRUCTIVE DEMOLITION CRITICISM |
I readily admit...
I am not an engineer.
I am not an environmentalist...or an anti-environmentalist.
I am not a lawyer.
I know there are laws that regulate how to properly dispose of things.
But...
...this is Cairo dammit!
Since when do we care about the legal ways of doing things.
In this context...
I have watched with interest over the past two years the demolition of downtown Cairo.
And I have wondered...
I have watched the cranes do their thing...quite effectively and efficiently.
I have watched as truck after truck after truck hauled off the fruits of their labor...to disposal destinations unknown.
I have watched as the cranes have dug deep...as much as ten feet into the earth. Evidently the demolition folks (as indicated by the "bid ad" in The Cairo Citizen) contract to remove old foundations and the roots of long-established vegetation...spreading a smooth layer of soil over the cleared lot.
I mean...
This is admirable and reflects a concern for future owners of said locations.
But, bears repeating...
This is Cairo, dammit!
What are the odds that anyone is going to lay claim to these vacated lots to initiate new construction projects that would involved digging more than a foot or two into the earth. One thing that any long- or short-term resident could tell potential builders:
"In Cairo, you would be well-advised not to do basements!"
So...
...who cares what lies ten feet below the surface of Cairo!
Oh, yes...
...dig deep to determine that there are no cavernous holes and/or soft spots that might open up and "eat" new construction.
But...
Why pay for tons of dirt and haul it from points unknown to pour into the gaping holes?! Why haul off the fallen brick and concrete that lay on or beneath the surface of said demolition sites? Use it as "fill"! Wouldn't that be easier? Wouldn't that be cheaper???
Case in point...
I watched as the cranes did their thing at the southeast corner of 10th and Commercial. They dug deeper than ever, hauling off load after load after load of bricks and concrete. (I can understand the metal...salvaging and selling it for scrap. I can understand the wood...which would rot and possibly create soft spots or lead to a future sinking surface. But, useless solid refuse?!)
I also watched as tons of fresh dirt were hauled in and carefully dumped, spread, and tamped.
Finally...
...as an apparent afterthought.
The cranes and trucks descended on the former site of the Hong Kong/Harper's Restaurant. They scooped up fallen and discarded bricks and hauled them to the southeast corner of 10th and Commercial and dumped them into what by then was a shallow depression, covering said refuse with a thin layer of fresh dirt.
Well, hell...
Too bad they didn't think of this sooner! They could have gotten all of the old restaurant, rather than leaving the remainder as a continuing eyesore across the street from the Alexander County Courthouse.
Oh, well, as they say...better late than never!
Which brings me to this year.
As I mentioned on Wednesday...
Phase III of the Cairo demolition has begun, as evidenced by the work being done at the site of the old Roslyn Hotel.
The clean-up work proceeded smoothly, but by the end of Thursday, they seemed to reach an impasse:
And, so it remains today.
Huge chucks of concrete...evidently too big to simply scoop up and deposit into trucks for haul-away to destinations unknown. Are they waiting for other equipment to arrive and pound the chunks into submission for subsequent disposal?
I dunno.
But...
Wait! Oh yes, wait a minute Mr. Demolition Man!
I have an idea!
Yes, it's simple-minded...
...and there's probably a gazillion environmental and/or building code laws against it.
But...
...bears repeating.
This is Cairo, dammit!
So...
Return with me now...
...to Commercial Avenue, immediately in front of the Cairo Public Utility building:
Only recently have they dared to open half of this street to traffic...cordoning off the pictured western portion...with the much-photographed gaping holes from the Flood of 2011.
(Actually, that was all an exaggeration...a fictional account used by the media for "shock effect". I mean...since no water was actually flowing over the levee walls, they needed something "dramatic" as a photo-op for their news reports. Long-time residents knew that the sinking of that particular stretch of road has been happening, well, for a long time. Actually, the well-established weeds should have been a big hint to any discerning viewers!)
Anyway...
I have a "boulder plan" for solving both problems...
...the disposal of the Roslyn Hotel remains and addressing the recurring sink holes in front of the Cairo Public Utility building...
Think PLUG!
Time after time after time, educated engineers have tried to address the sinking street...and failed miserably.
Succeeding months and the alleged efforts of the Ohio River have literally washed away their solutions. Whatever went into the hole eventually disappeared...never to be seen again.
In fact...
One year, when the city apparently gave up the futile exercise and chose not to enlist engineers and construction workers to feed the hole's ravenous appetite with new repairs, the hole made a move toward the CPU building itself...munching away at its northern corner. Fortunately, efforts to stem that greedy assault succeeded. However, nothing has stemmed the tide across the street.
So...
Since all else has failed, how about we try a simpler approach...
...using the materials at hand!
Assuming that the available equipment can transport the "Roslyn Plug" a few blocks, let's pick that sucker up and drop it into the sink hole in front of the Cairo Public Utility building. The smaller pieces can be placed in the shallower depressions. Then, cover the whole thing with a layer of gravel...
...and wait.
No...
...don't open that part of the road to traffic yet. It might be an accident waiting to happen. As I said, I am not an engineer. It is entirely possible that the "Roslyn Plug" might follow the fate of its smaller, more expensive predecessors. So, wait a year...see what happens.
However...
What we would have here is one of those "win-win" situations:
If the plug holds...
Finally, Cairo can reclaim one of its streets. Come next summer, pour some sidewalks and curbs, spread some asphalt...hey, toss in a couple of planters (to satisfy the lipstick-on-a-pig lobby.) Hell, rename that stretch of Commercial "Roslyn Drive". I'd even chip in the money for a ribbon-cutting ceremony!
If the plug fails...
Then we know that Cairo has one of those black hole thingys...frequently featured in science fiction, but previously relegated to outer space.
Think of the possibilities...
Cairo as the waste-disposal mecca of the Midwest!
Old tires, old TVs and electronics, old paint cans...no problem!
All that stuff that is illegal to dump but for which local and state government fail to give you a convenient place to dispose of or recycle...
...bring it to Cairo!
The Environmental Protection Agency?
Not to worry...
...the EPA would need proof of wrong-doing!
If the "Roslyn Plug" fails in its mission...
...anything smaller that someone might throw into the hole will never surface, no matter how intense the search, no matter how thorough the investigation.
Case in point...
Have they ever found Jimmy Hoffa?
