Caltrans Ebbetts Pass: Make work and "MILK IT"!!

"Milking it" means to make
a good job last longer than
it really should! Caltrans
regular practice???

  Unfortunately, Ebbetts Pass has an out of control Caltrans maintenance yard. When there is snow on the ground, they handle it fairly well, but when its sunny they have to "MAKE WORK"!


   When around 15 Caltrans trucks and probably 25 tree cutters swarmed down on JUST Hathaway Pines yesterday morning, we wondered what they were doing. They closed down TWO lanes and had a man in a pilot truck leading cars both ways.

   They were cutting bushes and trees at the area near the post office in Hathaway and then another bunch of trucks were cranking up the noise doing who knows what?

   When we questioned Warren Alford, who is the Caltrans Community representative, he said there was no work scheduled in that area at all.

   Alford stated that "Caltrans strives to be a national leader in delivering quality service through excellent employee performance, public communication and accountability. If we have not lived up to that expectation, we will bring it to the attention of our supervisors to address."  Is he kidding???

   Mr. Alford, it is the SUPERVISORS in Ebbetts Pass and District 10 that are the problem. The worst!! 

   Then we told him our concern about two men making jokes about "MILKING" the job. One even made hand motions as if he was milking a cow as they laughed.

   Alford seemed concerned and said he would get back to us.  The disappointment in his response is sad, so sad.

    Instead of saying there was going to be disciplinary action for the inappropriate behavior of this large crew, he said the foreman told him they were preparing for a huge STORM in Hathaway Pines this weekend and emergency measures had to be taken to clear the storm drains.

   We discussed this with several people, who ALL agreed, there are NO storm drains on Hwy 4, not in Hathaway Pines at ALL.  The water sits in the ditches until it soaks in.

   So why was Alford tricked by these lies. They never even admitted to cutting trees, which we witnessed.   Then about this HUGE STORM.

   We checked with the weather bureau, who told us NO that was a lie too. Possibility of a few light showers in the higher elevations, NO HUGE STORM expected.

   The same bunch of wierdos moved in on Hathaway Pines, blocking traffic in both directions as they did the day before.

   We now expect this was a MAKE WORK, an "MILK IT" job, typical of the bad management at Caltrans. We'll see what Sacramento has to say.
 Wais e