January 4th Cliff/Elm St. Residents Meeting Notice (click here for info)
After gaining use of a borrowed digital camera (this one an Olympus Camedia D-360L; 1.3 Megapixel), via the same kind person who gave me my laptop computer and allowed me use of their other digital camera in late October and much of November, I went into town last Friday (December 30, 2005) to do some errands as well as take photo's of the area of Elm and Cliff Streets where the landslide happened earlier within the week.
Although my initial series of photo's were taken down on Elm Street (including from both sides of the landslide), in my opinion the photo's shot up on Cliff Street are among the most interesting from those I took, so I decided to feature them first.
Shortly after I arrived up on Cliff Street and readied the camera for use, a small pickup truck pulled alongside where I was positioned to take some shots and Tom McArdle got out. Tom is the Assistant Director of the Montpelier
Public Works department.
He was there to take and record certain observations and particular measurements as well as waiting for police officers to whom he would be showing and explaining the process, as the
Montpelier Police are aiding in taking and recording of such observations and measurements. The information gathered is then relayed to the consultants who are monitoring and evaluating the cliffside.
It proved to be good timing on my part, especially given that I had no clue any of them were planning on being there at the precise time I just happened to be around to take photo's of the area.
Sergeant John Martin (officer with dark Winter mounted police styled hat) and Sergeant Jim Gavin (officer without hat) arrived only a few moments later.
As someone who was there to merely observe the observers, I tried my best to stay out of their way and, not distract them from the focus of their work, because the information they are gathering and recording is crucial for the experts who will be analyzing and making determinations based upon it.
From what I could tell, it is a tedious yet critical process, being one link in the chain of the what is involved in the continued monitoring and evaluation of the cliffside.
Later in the day, when I went looking for an available city official to ask questions of,
Mayor Mary Hooper took some time out to speak with me on the subject.
Mayor Hooper explained in general terms that, especially given concerns with the recent rain during the week, they are
monitoring what is happening with the soil, ...
doing an analysis to understand and try
to figure out the underlying dynamic of the hillside.
According to the Mayor, the
City of Montpelier is ...
taking every step that we can to make sure people and property are safe.
The day earlier (Thursday, December 29, 2005), as this and other photo's show, the tall, covered chain link fence was installed and Jersey barriers placed against it, providing a certain protective barrier for both the sidewalk as well as the apartments building in that area.
During the time I was down on Elm Street taking photo's I had the chance to talk to several different people, including some of the residents of the North Branch Apartment complex as well as someone I know who lives with his family in a house right next to the new of the apartment buildings.
Back in part of 1991 and, prior to the flood of March 1992, I had an apartment in the former building -- known as the
cinder blocks, which was condemned due to the flood. This forced myself and the other tenant(s) to find different housing as a result.
Eventually the building was demolished and the new building constructed in its place.
The former building only had two or three small apartment units, poor and not well heated ones at that. The new building has several apartments of different sizes, at least some of which are accessible to people with mobility disabilities.
For additional information and links to news articles, blog posts, various photo's and the like concerning last week's landslide, check out my initial blog post about it,
here.
