Neighboring Apartment Parapet Falls (2)

Worcester Telegram & Gazette Local Section B4
Concrete falls, section of Harvard St. closed
City building inspectors closed a section of the roadway surrounding 34 Chestnut St. after determining the parapet of the apartment building is in danger of falling.
The inspection came a day after the parapet on the Harvard Street side of the building separated from the roof, crashing onto the street and breaking into chunks. No one was injured, but safety officials noted people walk by regularly. A car was damaged by a section of the mortar, just after a passenger had walked away from it.
David F. Holden, the city's director of Code Enforcement, said yesterday he, another building inspector and a structural engineer hired by the building owner had examined the roof and determined it was unsafe.
He said the area surrounding the building will remain closed until the entire parapet is removed. He added that the structural engineer estimated that work would begin Monday. The building is managed by Micozzi Management Inc.
Mr. Holden said it appears water collecting on the roof had caused the mortar to deteriorate over time, and that the building owners probably never knew the deterioration was occurring. No one has been charged or cited, he noted.
Date: 11/24/05 Category: News

Neighboring Apartment Parapet Falls

Worcester Telegram & Gazette Local Section B1
Portion of building roof collapses onto Harvard St.
A resident of a top-floor apartment at 34 Chestnut St. (this is incorrect since the "parapet" fell off of the Harvard St. (which has its own entrance and address) side of this mirror image building) was reading by his window about 6:15 p.m. yesterday when he heard a sound “like snow sliding off a slate roof."
He looked out the window in time to see a gray blur go by as more than 1000 pounds (are you kidding? more like 20 tons!) of concrete dropped to the street below, taking cable television service with it (no wonder there were so many people looking out their windows and milling about in the street after it happened).
The back parapet of the apartment building at 34 Chestnut St. separated from the roof, most likely by water damage, and crashed onto Harvard Street breaking into dozens of chunks, some as big as stereos (more like, some as big as medium size dorm refrigerators).
No one was injured, but District Fire Chief Frank D. Diliddo (really!) III, surveying the busted concrete littering Harvard Street, pointed at one sizable chunk leaning against the rear quarter of a late model silver Toyota. "The woman driving that car had just gotten out a minute or so (15 minutes, she has emailed photos from me to send to her insurance company) before it came down," he said.
Harvard Street was closed to vehicles and pedestrians for three blocks. A tangle of cable wire webbed the back of the (Turn to Building/Next Page)

Building parapet was weakened by water Local B4
Building/From Page B1
building. Police tape cordoned off the area that was illuminated with powerful portable lights. A police detail was stationed in a parking lot across from Harvard Street for the night. "There are still loose chunks up there," District Chief Diliddo said. "We don't want anyone to wander by."
While the cause of the collapse is under investigation, David Horne, city building inspector, said water seeping into the parapet over the years would eventually weaken it at the point where it joins the roof cornice. He estimated the age of the building at 80 to 100 years. Asked if regular maintenance could have prevented the collapse, Mr. Horne said extremely vigilant maintenance might have but said the investigation would determine the cause.
Mr. Horne deemed the building structurally sound for habitation and residents were allowed to remain in their apartments. The Harvard Street entrance was closed. Chief Diliddo said Micozzi Management, which operates the building, was expected to have an engineer at the scene last night.
Date: 11/23/05 Category: News

Peter Drucker 1909 - 2005

Peter Drucker passed away on November 11, 2005. His story is covered in this article in BusinessWeek Online - The Man Who Invented Management, Tuesday November 22, 8:13 am ET, By John A. Byrne, with Lindsey Gerdes in New York.
Short exerpt -
-- It was Drucker who introduced the idea of decentralization -- in the 1940s -- which became a bedrock principle for virtually every large organization in the world.
-- He was the first to assert -- in the 1950s -- that workers should be treated as assets, not as liabilities to be eliminated.
-- He originated the view of the corporation as a human community -- again, in the 1950s -- built on trust and respect for the worker and not just a profit-making machine, a perspective that won Drucker an almost godlike reverence among the Japanese.
-- He first made clear -- still the '50s -- that there is "no business without a customer," a simple notion that ushered in a new marketing mind-set.
-- He argued in the 1960s -- long before others -- for the importance of substance over style, for institutionalized practices over charismatic, cult leaders.
-- And it was Drucker again who wrote about the contribution of knowledge workers -- in the 1970s -- long before anyone knew or understood how knowledge would trump raw material as the essential capital of the New Economy.

Christmas Postcards

We are getting a head start on putting some Christmas postcards in mattes and frames for display in Adirondack Chocolates in Lake George. Sorry about the 90 degree tilt, but I was trying to fill the frame with all 7 works in progress.

Jon visits Emma in France

Looks like Emma found Jon at the airport in Paris and made their way safely to Amsterdam to tour the Heineken Brewery.

Glens Falls and Cooper's Cave

On Sunday, we drove downtown and walked across the bridge into South Glens Falls for the parade. Cooper's Cave is in the vertical crevase in the shot above. An overlook has been built with the new bridge, but is not yet open to the public. The overlook on the left side of the bridge going towards South Glens Falls doesn't really do it justice as you can see from the postcard image also shown found at www.cavesource.com.

The real action, I thought, was on the right hand side of the bridge from where the Hudson River flows over the falls as it is released from various points on the dam. The water is controlled by the paper companies for both power and processing water. Sunday, the water seemed really low, revealing the rock structure of the falls.

Last Craft Show for 2005

We are closing our craft show year on a big bang with a very successful 7 hours Saturday at the Christian Brothers Academy near Albany Airport. How successful you ask? Let's just say, if Pat and I were playing Craft Show Strip Poker, we'd have been thrown out for public nudity right after lunch. I even had a strong hit (but no sale) on the alligator sculpture shown above. We sold 17 items (matted and framed antique postcards and Currier and Ives prints from old insurance calendars) as well as ~$100 worth of our soap for a total of $886 plus tax. This isn't just about the cash, although it is nice not to have to make an ATM trip on a good show weekend. This is about a hobby that appears to be paying for itself after 3 years of effort. This is about working together on something we both enjoy. This is about the other craft vendors we meet and about the customers we build these images for. We are looking forward to next year!