A condo construction in Long Island City is turning Kenny Greenberg and Diane Hendry's home into a house of horrors.The couple lives next door to Casa Vizcaya, a five-story condo on 46th Road billed as "modern and serene living." But it has been anything but serene for the couple, who said their home has sustained a long list of damages.
Couple claims condo construction caused damage to their home
The Buildings Department recently slapped the project with a stop-work order "for failure to protect adjacent property" according to the agency's Web site.
"We're defending our house," said Greenberg, who has lived in the two-story house for nearly 20 years and owns a nearby neon company. "This has emotionally beaten us down for two years."
16 comments:
What, posted for hours and no comments?
Oh come now, LICNYC, QueensWest, and our new fav, LiQshitty.
Lets hear it boys. Lets hear how you have improved the community by getting rid of the rifraff.
Casa Vizcaya?
Has it gotten so bad that we have to let the illegal workers name the place?
What, posted for hours and no comments?
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Comment moderation in effect. Racist and other offensive comments are okay, anything mildly pro-development is not. Enjoy discussing among yourself.
There were no "pro-development comments" posted before the first one here.
Why would you come to Queens Crap and post a pro-development comment unless you just want to be an asshole? This blog is for people sick over overdevelopment. For like-minded individuals who orgasm over new condo projects, visit Curbed, OuterB, Queens West, so many to choose from. And we all know how well their comments are screened; never anything mildly offensive posted on them.
Julie, please. We all know the trolls from Curbed, etc., can't stand that there is a growing sentiment that all this overdevelopment is not good for the city. They also are the very same ones who post offensive comments on Curbed (or stay silent when someone else posts them) yet are up in arms about the ones posted here.
Could someone please tell me the address of home that was damaged?
Thank you.
Casa Vizcaya is at 10-40 46th Rd. The damaged house in the article is to the West of it. Just start to look at the brinks, the lintels, the sills, the separation of the windows from their framing, etc. There are major cracks inside in the foundation and basement slab, ceilings, brick walls.
The next house West has some lesser damage. There were also issues with the house to the West.
The people in western Queens are of two minds.
On one hand, they can see the disctruction of the area and the riffraff that is brought in (both those in worker barraks and headuptheriass yuppies), yet on the other, decades of prodevelopment rant by the local community boards, politicos, and newspapers - rant that the preservation community has smugly let fester (better those morons in Astoria get development than in Bayside).
Here is the low down by community:
1. Astoria: we love our 150 year old houses (but what can you do when a developer buys it - we gets lot$ of money) [brightlight, with it landmarked you can get lot$$ more money]
2. Dutch Kills: they are building a 10 story hotel 3 feet from my son's window (yet you supported massive upzoning because you could add two stories to your house) [brightlight, you were warned that no one else in this city wants increased zoning because it destroys the community]
3. Hunters Point: this construction is ruining my house and community (yet you don't want to submit landmarks applictions to protect was is left) [bright light, you cant get it both ways, save your house and cut a deal with Plaxall for a community facility that will be jettisoned as soon as they put a spade into the ground]
What, posted for hours and no comments?
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Comment moderation in effect. Racist and other offensive comments are okay, anything mildly pro-development is not. Enjoy discussing among yourself.
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An opportunity to say anything that does not conform with politico/developer press releases and as a tincture of free thought looked on with disdain.
God knows where all this might lead us.
Afterall, they TELL us development is good for us, so it must be, right?
(by the way, 'community' blogs, all those developer ads on your sites area a real nice touch)
Why would you come to Queens Crap and post a pro-development comment unless you just want to be an asshole?
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Unlike the close minded prodevelopment types that are stuck on a loop (you have to compromise! this will improve your dump of a community! this will make things vibrant! we need affordable housing!) the antidevelopment people are here becuase we actually think and are daring enough to express the real world, and not some politican's press release.
We encourgage prodevelopment comments. Unlike our community boards or newspapers, this is a free forum for all comments.
Now if you state a clubhouse plank, don't be surprised if someone challenges you.
If you are a mouthpiece for a developer why get upset if someone questions how their money making scheme actually benefits the community?
Let a thousand flowers bloom - and who knows, maybe we can even see a few at St Savious and in a waterfront park for the people.
Who knows, if the people find a voice, where it will lead?
Unfortunately, the DOB feels problems such as this are civil matters. Your only recourse for the is costly and timeconsuming litigation. You need to file a claim within 3 years. If you have not asked them for their insurance coverage yet, perhaps you should. Experience tells me that it is highly unlikely that the developer will accept responsibility and pay your damages.
I believe that they needed your permission to underpin your foundation. You may be able to hold the project up significantly if that is the case.
I noticed that their permits are due to expire 4/1/08. I also find it curious that there is no mention of sprinklers.
Hey where is the recouse an existing homeowner next to new developers hav? None and the City stands by without protecting against this type damage. Imagine being this home owner and experiencing his/hers mental state and bills to repair their property?
"Was the inspector just being lazy? Or did he falsify records because he was overwhelmed by a construction boom that has too few inspectors chasing down too many complaints?"
Third choice: Could it be that there was a white envelope involved?
"A significant number of the architects and engineers are not filing the inspection reports for these jobs as they’ve committed to do,” she said in a statement this week."
Well, perhaps the DOB needs to start working over time and start reviewing those files. That is if you can find them.
These architects shoulds be immediately flagged in the system and not allowed to file any additional plans until they comply.
“We are building cases against architects and engineers to revoke their ability to file permits when they are found to have a pattern of abuse, which includes failing to inspect or sign off on their jobs,” she added."
It might be reassuring to the public, if we could see some results.
"He said that for a variety of reasons it is not unusual for engineers to fail to complete final inspections on jobs they certify: the owner stops paying the engineer, the contractor walks off the job or the contractor does not abide by the plans filed with the Buildings Department."
The all "s__k".
"This is not the first time city officials have acknowledged problems with the self-certification system; a 2006 Buildings Department audit of large-scale projects that had been self-certified found that roughly half of them had errors. That discovery led the city last year to establish a new program to examine self-certified construction plans and discipline professionals who broke the rules."
Errors, you say. An error is a mistake, boo-boo or miscalculation. They clearly are deliberate abuses. They are done “knowingly”, It is all about what they can get away with.
It would appear that while you, Commissioner, are at the helm, they are clearly getting away with "_________".
"Special Enforcement Plan, which holds architects and engineers who fail to sign off on construction responsible and accountable for failures,” Commissioner Lancaster said."
How is that coming along Commissioner? Or, is the outcome secret and part of those closed door deals?
These pro over-development yahoos
feel compelled to comment ,
because they're fearful of the contrary opinions
that are being expressed on QC .
If we weren't a threat.....
they would simply choose to ignore us!
That's logical, isn't it ?
H-m-m-m....but I guess that we might
be putting a little "dent" in their PR pitch.
The only pro over developers in Queens & Brooklyn all work for Corcoran, Douglas - Elliman, Pistilli and the rest of the real estate CORRUPT CRAP LOBBYISTS that have paid off Whining Loser "I have a mansion in Bermuda, so THERE!" Bloomberg and Helen "build me a McMansion and I'll do anything for you" Marshall and anyone that has recently spent their entire life savings moving here in the last 3 years or should I say, their parents life savings.
They are not kidding native New Yorkers.
This is NOT development. Development RESPECTS the community and its people it is in and does not DESTROY the infrastructure that will never be replaced by a city that has no foresight and no forward planning and now has NO MONEY since everyone is crying BROKE like the MTA and every city agency WHO LET THIS HAPPEN. Could it be that they all need money to pay for their pool cleaning bills in the Hamptons? They need more money from us? Go to hell!
This is OVERDEVELOPMENT. It is RAPE. It is CRIMINAL on every level and it has destroyed the fabric of our working class family neighborhoods.
Three & four generation working class families that built these neighborhoods and who this is directly affecting will not stand for this anymore.
It is a sham and it is a shame. This is trickle down Bush/Cheney-nomics. This is Bloomberg's Leprosy. It's time to vote them all out. If it was legal to impeach mayors & governors, then Bloomberg, Guiliani and Pataki would have been gone years ago. All they did was bleed this city dry and hand it over to their billionaire buddies and decimated our police force and fire fighters by closing fire houses and not given the police a decent salary for years.
Who does anyone think they are kidding? They have turned NY into the laughing stock of the country since NO OTHER city in this great nation of ours does this on such a massively greedy scale.
Try doing this on the west coast or in the mid-west where people actually care about one another and their historical neighborhoods.
The status quo has reared it's ugly head AT LAST and the good people of this city are FINALLY WAKING UP.
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