Boston Globe: Broken pipe soaks office of 5 legislators

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Boston Globe: January 23, 2007

Broken pipe soaks office of 5 legislators

By Wangsness, Globe Staff | January 23, 2007

When Representative R. Canessa got the word that his office had

sustained a little water damage over the weekend, he wasn't worried. It's an

old

building, he thought. It leaks a little sometimes.

But when he arrived in his fourth-floor office, nestled up against the attic

in the back corner of the State House, Canessa stood aghast. The

cream-colored walls and ceiling were stained brown, and peels of paint were

hanging

everywhere. When he stepped on the carpet, it beaded with water. There was a

distinct odor of moldy glue.

" Honest to God, it was like, wow, " he said, " quite the eye-opening

experience. "

An attic pipe burst in below-freezing temperatures Sunday, causing extensive

damage to the office that Canessa shares with four other representatives and

transforming them into temporary refugees yesterday. Before the problem was

discovered by rangers late Sunday night, the water had cascaded onto

computers, files, photographs, and carpets, to the dismay of the office

inhabitants.

Representative ph R. Driscoll, one of Canessa's officemates, said that

one of his colleagues suggested he join the boating caucus. The Braintree

lawyer said the water destroyed his certification to practice before the US

Supreme Court.

" I guess I'll write to Judge [] and have him send me another

one, " Driscoll said, referring to the court's chief justice.

Some water also made its way downstairs, to the office of the majority whip,

Lida E. Harkins, but her quarters escaped graver harm.

" It smells pretty bad, but it's not awful, " said her aide, Ed Donnelly.

" We'll survive. We're public servants, right? "

It was only the latest bout of severe water damage to strike the House in

recent years. Haberlin, press secretary to House Speaker Salvatore F.

DiMasi, said the House had to remove one of the four murals in its chamber

recently, the one depicting Winthrop, because it had begun to peel.

DiMasi, who moved quickly to help move all of the unlucky lawmakers and their

belongings to drier quarters yesterday, said the weekend's mess indicates that

" repairs to the building's exterior and interior are in order. "

Neil Kilpeck, superintendent of state office buildings, said the cause of

the leak was typical for an old building. A motor in an attic fan coil unit

seized, allowing icy air blowing through a vent to freeze a pipe. " The wind was

blowing just right, " he said.

The exterior of the State House was remodeled several years ago, but Kilpeck

said the repairs did not include the building's interior systems. The

heating and cooling systems are now in the midst of an overhaul, which will be

completed later this year. After they're done, Kilpeck said, a temperature

monitor will warn a control center if temperatures drop precipitously,

preventing

another fiasco.

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