I surrender to superior mocking

Wow, I've just been catching up on my reading of the Daily News.

There are, what? 18 comments on Victor Tine's latest story about the PI sewer system ... it's all pretty interesting.

Then there's a letter to the editor from PI resident Pat Frey, with one blistering comment. Pat, I feel your pain.

Nice mocking by DDS. He even grabbed the opportunity to bash Ari Herzog for reasons beyond my comprehension. (Which is more embarrassing - having a contract not renewed at the end of its term, or going through I believe a minimum of 3 executive assistants or assistant mayors, or whatever you want to call them, in the same number of years?)

DDS has a lot in common with Mr. X ... but I digress ...

I have a car. Right now, my muffler has a hole in it and exhaust is coming into the interior of the car, if I have the heater on.

Is my car broken?

It still runs ... but is it broken?

If I don't get it fixed, I could asphyxiate - so yeah, I think it's broken.

There's a fine line here between what is or is not broken in the PI sewer system. Sure it still works, but only after $49,500 (and counting) in OT.

But that's not even the point(s).

One point: it was the sewer dept. that issued a 5-page memo describing in great detail what a nightmare the system has become. What was the press supposed to do, ignore that alarming memo and the money spent on OT?

I wish I could show you the whole memo - it was jaw-dropping ...

Another point: all this blustering is giving the impression that there is something to hide.

Out of I think 5 people I spoke with, only one city official asked me for the contact info for the guy I spoke to in Michigan, where they experienced the SAME problems (only I have to say, they put their pits off to the side of the road). The rest - well, more blustering.

I only just discovered that this ran in the Current last Friday ... I mean literally, I only just discovered it this minute ... I filed it after deadline. The place in Michigan (where trust me, it gets colder in winter than it does here) has had the AIRVAC system for five years.

Third point: I don't think the city should give the go-ahead for another multi-million dollar project that is being proposed by the same people who handled the last one until it is determined what the real problem is and who is responsible.

And I DO have project management experience.

I once had to force a contractor to go to Egypt over Christmas to fix something he was responsible for before the project left the U.S. ... he called me on Christmas Day to complain bitterly that there was no BBQ in Cairo (he was from the South) ... hey, I have international project management experience!

That's not even counting the 2 helicopters in Kuwait I was partly responsible for keeping running (with the maintenance guy on site). Do you know how many parts/year it takes to keep 2 helicopters in the air? I do - or used to - because I had to order and ship the parts.

And what to do when Lufthansa is loading a helicopter onto a cargo plane in Germany and - oops - hits the side of the plane with the tail of the helicopter?

I was responsible for shipping that sucker from Hawaii to Kuwait.

But enough about me.

Summer is coming and then everyone (except the people on the island) will forget there even were icing problems this winter. Just like everyone forgot about the icing problems last winter. And the winter before that.

You know what I was told, as a reporter for the Current, when it happened the first time? That the lines going from the pits to the houses (installed by private contractors hired by homeowners) were not dug deep enough.

It's always something someone else did wrong ... maybe or maybe not in this case.

But you deserve to know.