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The Dripby Danielle Sweeney12:35 pmJun 23, 20150

BGE contractor blocks family garage with equipment for 16 hours

Upper Fells, Fells Prospect gas line work continues to generate problems

Above: Latest headache: BGE contractor NPL’s excavator blocked this garage.

When Patti Jefferson saw the John Deere excavator parked in her driveway, she knew it belonged to NPL, the Baltimore Gas and Electric contractor doing work in her Upper Fells neighborhood.

NPL had been upgrading gas lines there for more than a year and routinely parked its equipment on the streets.

“There is someone blocking our driveway every single day when I leave for work – either BG&E or a construction crew,” she wrote on Facebook.

By the time Jefferson got back home, the equipment would invariably be moved away from the garage. Friday night, however, was different.

She got home around six and parked in her garage on Collington Avenue. At some point thereafter, NPL “decided right in front of our garage was the perfect place to park a giant piece of equipment,” she wrote.

The family, which includes a baby, was blocked and couldn’t access its vehicle. (Jefferson’s husband, who was away, had the other car.)

With a baby at home, “not being able to get out felt like an emergency,” she wrote, and immediately began making phone calls and chronicling her predicament on social media.

The first call was to BGE, who contacted NPL.

By 11 pm, BGE  responded to Jefferson, and said there was nothing they could do that night – and she could tow the equipment if she wanted.

She called the police, who eventually came out and told her that the excavator was too big for the city to tow.

They did ask if she had called about the same situation with NPL a week ago. (She had not.)

“Apparently I’m not the only one with this issue with NPL,” she wrote.

Ongoing Problems

Fells Prospect and Butcher’s Hill residents say they have well-documented concerns with the contractor, who is replacing three miles of cast-iron gas mains, more than 800 service pipes and 900 gas meters in the neighborhoods.

State delegates representing the 46th district have met with the BGE and NPL about the work at least twice since it began a year ago, and an NPL supervisor of the Upper Fells project was let go in March amid complaints about cleanliness and parking.

And First District Councilman James B. Kraft’s office has been working with the utility to find nearby off street parking for the heavy equipment for at least three months.

“We are still working on it,” Emily Sherman, Kraft’s chief of staff, told The Brew yesterday.

Still Blocked In

The Jefferson’s garage was still blocked in on Saturday morning.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Jefferson got a text from NPL saying they didn’t work on the weekends and were not sure when they could get the equipment moved.

But by 10:30 a.m., or 16 hours after the equipment was parked, an NPL worker could be seen driving the equipment down the street. (Jefferson was not home at the time.)

BGE work vehichles parked on street on the weekend

BGE equipment parked on Collington Avenue this past weekend. (Photo by Danielle Sweeney)

The Brew reporter, who identified herself, asked the worker how a piece of equipment could could be parked in front of what was obviously a family’s garage for so long.

He replied candidly that NPL staff worked long days and, in so many words, were not always paying attention to where they parked.

“Between you, me, and the fencepost, “he said, “I had to move one [excavator] the other day. It was parked in front of a fire hydrant!”

“Dumbasses!”he added.

Jefferson told The Brew on Monday that NPL did call to apologize, but BGE never offered her an explanation.

When contacted yesterday, BGE spokesman Richard Yost said in an email: “We’re glad that NPL was able to apologize to this customer because this is unacceptable and we’ve emphasized the importance of always being aware of where we are working and staging our equipment.”

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