Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Peace and quiet coming soon?

From the NY Post:

Catching Zzzz’s could get a lot easier if the City Council passes a bill limiting the hours construction workers can operate.

The proposal, now being pushed by council members Dan Garodnick, Rosie Mendez and Gale Brewer, would make it harder for construction companies to get permission to work late nights and early mornings.

“After-hours construction work, while sometimes necessary for emergency work, is the bane of many New Yorkers’ existence,” Brewer said. “We need to ensure that after-hours work only takes place when absolutely necessary.”

The bill’s authors are unsure of how many after- hours variances are granted annually, but Mendez’s office said it received 686 complaints about them in the past six years alone.

As it is now, crews can work around the clock if they secure a variance from the Department of Buildings. It isn’t hard to get one because companies abuse an “undue hardship” dispensation, Garodnick said.

“The rules need to be clearly laid out and they need to be followed,” he added.

Under the proposed law, the hardship category would be eliminated altogether, and contractors would be forbidden from working before 7 a.m. and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, or before 11 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on Saturdays — except in emergencies and when public safety is at risk.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish they'd include those damned lawn guys with the leaf blowers and truck deliveries!

I have trucks idling outside my window waiting for a small grocery store to open every morning.

Sometimes they arrive at 4:30 AM and sit idling for 2 hours!!!!

311 has has been very effective - NOT!

Anonymous said...

Will this bill apply to construction crews working on SCA (School Construction Authority) sites?

Anonymous said...

Don't mean a thing without enforcement - they only do that where the "real" people live (Manhattan, Park Slope, Billyburg, etc.)

Joe Moretti said...

Unless there is an emergency, construction should only take place 7am to 4pm weekdays ONLY. No weekend at all

This whole thing is bullshit, especially when it comes to some of these shady construction companies that attempt to skirt all the laws.

Anonymous said...

I do not think the constructions are the problem. Most constructions are very slow, consider the MTA spending an year to remake a train stop in order to be savagely ruined by graffiti the next day. The problem is the noise in the cars and in the apartments, the stupidity of the people and their profound immoral behavior.