Cops dig up Kissena Park looking for MS-13 victims

From the Daily News:

Cops were digging in a Queens park Friday afternoon for the bodies of two possible victims of MS-13, according to sources.

Police could be seen unloading heavy excavation equipment at Kissena Park near 164th St. and Underhill Ave. in Flushing around 5 p.m., witnesses said.

One source said that cops were investigating after they received a tip and another law enforcement source said that the bodies could be related to MS-13 killings.

A tale of two solstices

From George the Atheist

6 months of destruction at the Steinway Mansion site

From George the Atheist:

EDC tried to cover up contamination at Flushing Airport

YESTERDAY, State Senator Tony Avella held an emergency press conference regarding the Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) attempted cover-up of fuel contaminated soil. Community Board 7 began to receive reports from residents earlier today regarding a noticeable smell of petroleum throughout College Point, later to be traced to ongoing projects in the College Point Corporate Park.

As part of the ongoing wetlands mitigation project, contractors began to strip the runway previously used by the former Flushing Airport. Visible pools of fuel were then discovered underneath, which went unreported as EDC apparently advised the contractor to continue operations. Furthermore, additional liquid petroleum was found at the excavation site of the nearby 132nd Street/Linden Place extension project.

According to an anonymous whistleblower, rather than reporting the issue within the appropriate 24-hour timeframe, workers were instructed to follow protocol as though the soil was mildly contaminated by metals and use it as berm material to be used throughout the City. By failing to disclose the presence of liquid petroleum and hiding it in soil used for park space, EDC officials are potentially breaking the law, and thus willing to expose countless people to the health hazard of oil contaminated soil.

Senator Avella was able to access the site being excavated along 20th Avenue, where a construction crew was apparently mixing the petroleum with mulch and tree leaves so as to cover the smell. Despite the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sending a spill team to inspect the issue early Monday morning, Senator Avella found that construction work was still ongoing in the mid-afternoon.

“To knowingly conceal petroleum contaminated soil and repurpose it use throughout the City is utterly disgraceful and borders criminality. EDC has shown that it is willing to expose people to a substantial health hazard, if it means preventing a delay on their project in College Point Corporate Park. Despite the efforts to conceal the truth, all of College Point could smell the foul play and reported the district wide scent of petroleum to Community Board 7. Our safety should not depend upon the diligence of the community and the conscience of a lone whistle-blower; I demand EDC to halt their project pending an investigation and answer to these allegations,” declared State Senator Tony Avella.

Senator Avella spoke with DEC following his press conference at the site and was informed that the agency was in the process of reviewing the allegation with the investigator sent to the site.

The Queens Courier has more.

Astoria Mountain being flattened

We have word from George the Atheist that the Berrian Blvd landfill which was proposed to become a park is in the process of being denuded of trees and bulldozed.

And the latest from the Steinway Mansion...

Courtesy of George the Atheist

How landmarks in Queens are really celebrated

From George the Atheist.

Excavation continues at the Steinway Mansion

Video from George the Atheist

Excavation continues around Steinway Mansion

More photos of the Steinway Mansion site are in from George the Atheist:

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Plundering of Steinway Mansion property continues

Above photos from George the Atheist, and Greater Astoria Historical Society takes us on a look inside the mansion.

Steinway Mansion excavation work underway

Photos from George The Atheist, who has a complete photo package on his own blog.

Worker killed on Manhattan building project

From the Daily News:

A 22-year-old construction worker was killed Monday while shoring up a building wall in the Meatpacking District, cops said.

The man, who has not been identified, was working on the building at 19 Ninth Ave. when the accident occurred. He was taken around 12:45 p.m. to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he later died, officials said.

There are five open building code violations in the two-story complex dating from 2011. An investigation into the worker’s death is ongoing.

Bones uncovered in front of Richmond Hill house

From CBS New York:

A subcontractor digging in a Queens yard made an unexpected discovery Tuesday.

At 11:30 a.m., the National Grid worker was digging with a backhoe in the front yard of a home located at 87-52 108th Street — across the street from P.S. 90.

At about 3-feet-deep, the subcontractor spotted what appeared to be bones.

The worker then got in the ditch and uncovered skeletal remains and called police.

Police arrived and called the medical examiner who removed the bones.

An anthropologist determined that they were in fact human remains.

The homeowner who has lived at the address for more than 20 years claimed to know nothing of the remains.
No criminality is suspected.

Stop work order at Flushing Commons

From the Daily News:

Work has been halted at a major Flushing development site since Friday, when a baseball-sized boulder flew across 39th Avenue, shattering the window of a bank and injuring a security guard.

Construction workers were chopping rocks at the Flushing Commons site on Aug. 8, as part of excavation for the $1 billion mega-development, when the dislodged stone flew over the 8-foot wall and soared like a well-struck chip shot across the crowded downtown street.

A security guard from the Woori America Bank was hospitalized from the shattered glass with serious but non-life threatening injuries, an FDNY spokesman said.

Developers said they held a safety meeting on Tuesday and were working with the city Department of Buildings to rectify the situation.

Get out while you can!

From the Queens Chronicle:

Two weeks ago, a worried construction manager hurried a reporter and a frustrated building superintendent out of a vacated fifth-floor apartment because of newly formed cracks threatening the structural integrity of the structure’s facade.

While 19 tenants still don’t know when they can return to their residences, work has begun to shore up the fracture-laden apartment building at 94-01 64 Road in Rego Park damaged by excavation work at the next-door lot.

Emergency external shoring work was approved by the Department of Buildings last Thursday for the cracking structure, temporarily easing the worries over whether at least part of the building could collapse in the coming weeks.

“The bottom line is that work has started,” Mike Santoro, Samson Management’s director of construction management, said. “But we have to continue monitoring what they are doing.”

Booth Holdings LLC, the owner of the excavation site in question, has been tasked with installing the external bracing and shoring on the neighboring building.

While Santoro is pleased that work has begun to save the cracking structure, he has his suspicions over Booth Holdings’ ability to properly secure the building.

By Feb. 26, the cracks were getting to be so bad that a resident called 911. After the FDNY and the DOB surveyed the building, it was determined that six apartments, including that of the building’s superintendent, were unsafe to occupy.

Since the partial vacate order was issued, the cracks have seemingly gotten worse, spreading to the roof of the building and getting large enough for daylight to stream through the concrete in the basement.

Residents worried about building collapse in Rego Park

From the Daily News:

A Rego Park building damaged in February following sloppy excavation work at a property next door has grown to the point of near collapse, city officials warn.

Cracks that appeared along the north wall of the six-story apartment building at 94-01 64th Rd. have continued to grow even as the city hit the contractor with fines for failing to safeguard the area and protect nearby properties.

Booth Holdings LLC plans to build luxury housing on the neighboring property. A principal couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Buildings Department issued a stop work order for the site in February and ordered contractors to install exterior support structures. In total, seven violations remain open against the construction companies.

150-year old Flushing street tree endangered by construction

LOCATION: 149-17 Sanford Ave, Flushing NY

"Developers are at it again.

DOT and DOB permits approving and authorizing new building construction that irreversibly damages one the largest street trees remaining in Flushing, estimated at 150 years and with a canopy. Forestry Permit apparently absent. Perhaps the tree is not on the building design plan of the Self Certified Architect (and intentionally left off).

Months ago, Queens Forestry was alerted before damages occurred.

Current Parks policy is that Forestry has jurisdiction within 50-ft from the tree base, that covers the tree root zone now largely removed by the excavator." - anonymous

I wanted to see what was there previously. Bing supplied this:


Another example of what bad zoning can do to a nice neighborhood. The small blue house was previously on the lot.

Excavation causes undermining in Brooklyn

From Pardon Me for Asking:

Late last week, excavation work for a new single family building at number 467 Union Street caused severe structural cracks to the neighboring buildings at 463 and 465 Union Street. In response, NYC Department Of Buildings imposed a complete Stop Work Order for number 467 and served a Vacate Order to number 465.

Once featured as a House Of The Day on Brownstoner, the original building at 467 Union Street was marketed by Corcoran as a teardown. After some time on the market, it was eventually sold for $377,000 in March 2012 to Jill and John Bouratoglou, the husband and wife team behind Bouratoglou Architect, PC. Shortly afterwards, permits were filed with NYC Department Of Buildings for a four-story, one family house.

Work on the site began in early June 2012. Almost immediately, there was trouble.

Still crapping up Meyer's Hotel

George the Atheist took these photos at the request of yours truly. Of course, pictured is what was once Meyer's Hotel at 58th Street and 39th Avenue in Woodside.

There still are no permits applied for and no violations on record, but the owner certainly is busy tearing up the yard. A portion of the retaining wall appears to have been removed without a permit.

A couple of years ago, I spoke with someone who babysat a child that lived in the house who said there still were ornate details inside, but I can just imagine what it must look like now.

A mess in Maspeth

This "stalled site" at 73-47 Grand Avenue in Maspeth has pretty much looked this way since 2006.
They do a little until they get shut down and then the site sits empty for months before the process is begun all over again.

Eventually, there will be an 8 unit building here with a store on the ground floor and only 3 parking spaces, which is better than the 12 units they initially applied for here. Any bets on whether it will actually be finished this decade?