by Caroline E. Ross

Four months after the city’s superintendent of grounds and buildings promised to repair a family’s railing broken July 16, 2002 by city workers cutting limbs, the railing is not fixed.

“A man came by and apologized for the delay, I was surprised that someone even came by,” said Lauren D. Song, who lives at 102 Wallace St. with her husband Philip A. Weiss and their two children, about the most recent contact with the city.

Song said has contacted the city both verbally and in writing, yet continues to wait for a solution to the problem of the broken railing.

“I know we are not a top priority on their list,” said Song.

After the family’s wait was issue first reported in The Somerville News Jan. 21 edition, Francis P. Santangelo, the DPW’s superintendent of buildings and grounds, Feb. 2 personally inspected the damage to the railing with a city carpenter.

Santangelo told the Weiss that the problem was that although the city broke the railing, to make the proper repairs, the city would have to fix structure problems with the railing and porch caused by weather and ants.

Regardless, Santangelo said that because of the hassle the family had been through, he would have the repairs made in April, when the ground had thawed out. “This has gone on too long and we will make it right.”

Over the past two years the administration in the city of Somerville has changed hands, including the election of a new mayor. Song said she understands to a point that the delay was caused by the legal process and the change in leadership.

“It’s a new administration. There might have been a certain level of professionalism with the first administration,” Song said.

Song said she questions whether the city would have acted in a swifter or more professional manner, had the old administration still been intact.

Song and Weiss requested that the city repair the railing shortly after the accident took place. They submitted the necessary paper work and contractor estimates that had been asked for by the DPW, and waited for the city to fix the railing, Song said.

“The City’s legal counsel had not yet made a determination in the case when I took office in January. It was imperative that the city be certain of the extent of the damage before the DPW could even schedule a repair,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone.

“It has not yet been repaired. But the DPW has been in contact with the family in the past two weeks and is hoping to take care of it in the next two weeks,” the mayor said.

“If I could, I would snap my fingers and have the porch be fixed–simply in the name of safety,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the DPW has only two carpenters to maintain 37 buildings and 49 parks citywide, and summertime is when those guys really kick into high gear, especially in the schools,” the mayor said.

“I am confident that the restoration will be made as soon as the DPW can shift focus off the school buildings for a day and onto this long-awaited repair.”