Plattsburgh's SOP: Let Leak Become Deluge

Hey, what happened to the ceiling panels?





Oh, I see.

Once again a patch job has failed to stop a chronic leak at the Plattsburgh Public Library. For years -- maybe decades -- Plattsburgh City hasn't spent the money to fix the same damn leak. Well, at least the rainwater didn't come down and blow up a computer this time (that did happen some time ago).

Like the PPL front steps (see here, here, and here), the city has been trying to expend minimal effort in locating the leak source and fixing it for good. The front steps were finally fixed after the city put the time and money into the problem but for some reason it hasn't learned its lesson with the leak. After a while what you save in a quick patch job means nothing because the problem keeps growing, costing much more to correct down the line.

But this is nothing new as many citizens of Plattsburgh are aware. Another infrastructure area that the city ignored in the past were its streets, letting them go to hell, potholes all over. A good deep pothole is beneficial for your car's wheel alignment.

And related to this question of infrastructure, a resident, Francis Ricard, claims in his blog that the city is skimping on the maintenance of its water supply system ("Swimming In my Sink!?", http://francissaysitsso.blogspot.com/.) I haven't verified his statements but I wouldn't be surprised if there was truth to be found in Ricard's claims.

As for the PPL leak, there must be some way of locating its origin. A few spots on the roof must be under suspicion, places where the rainwater pools up. Couldn't non-permanent dyes of different colors be used to trace the leak into the building? But you say those dyes would stain the ceiling tiles. At this point, what difference would it make? Tiles have already been completely trashed.

(And in case someone is scoffing at my idea, here's one hit I found through a quick Google search: Presto Dyechem Co Trace-A-Leak Fluorescent Red Dye Leak. Other similar products are also out there.)

Remember, visitors judge a community by its institutions. Imagine a first-time visitor to PPL walking in and seeing this:



Classy, eh?