Saturday, September 3, 2016

They dug too deep

From the Daily News:

A seemingly idyllic backyard patio behind a landmark West Village townhouse was hiding a sinister secret before an eagle-eyed neighbor got the owner busted by the city’s Buildings Department, officials said.

Lush grassy carpeting, white patio furniture and landscaping rocks actually masked an illegal excavation that reached as deep as 7 feet in some areas, sources told the Daily News.

Inspectors responding to a complaint at 35 Perry St. on Monday were shocked to find the fake floor suspended canopy-style over the dangerous ditch at the base of the 1852 structure, sources said.

The covert crater not only undermined the underpinning of the four-story building but also compromised the foundation of a wall shared with 37 Perry St., city engineers found. The building owner didn’t have an excavation permit.

Inspectors cited the owner for various safety violations, including lack of guardrails. They also found day laborers hiding in the house and a moving truck rented from Enterprise used to smuggle out debris, sources said.

13 comments:

JQ LLC said...

What exactly was the plan here? For storage, prospective tenants, or for selling? It almost resembles a speakeasy joint from the prohibition era. Whatever the motive, this stupid fucking idiot has ruined a classic 19th century home. There are clearly no standards anymore or any respect for history amongst the affluent.

Anonymous said...

So what DOB did was basically slap them on the wrist!
Fuckin' "A" for nothing!
SEIZE THE PROPERTY!

At least this time the sacred west Village got fucked in the tookas,
just like the borough of Queens gets gang fucked, at least three times a day!
Berman must be livid. LIL!

Jerry Rotondi said...

The real problem here is that we either have no good laws to protect us ,
or that we have no real enforcement of them.
Then we have the notoriously shady DOB, that has often been bribed to look the other way.

If laws were passed that would have some real teeth in them, this kind of crap would cease.
Who will pass these laws, the shifty city council?
Many are in the pay of real estate interests via campaign contributions.

My own local councilman, Paul Vallone, is a developers' lobbyist.
Will he favor stricter laws? Not if it bites into his extra earnings as a lawyer for builders, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

Sure they hired illegals.
Those Mexicans are great at tunneling underground...even under the kind of wall that Trump wants to build.

Anonymous said...

day laborers were hiding in the house? You must mean sleazy illegal immigrants. He was trying to get over cheap.

An Enterprise rent a truck? hmm. look out for those at other demolition sites.

Thank God someone called it in. It would have been on the news. I bet he's ruined the foundations of surrounding houses.

Anonymous said...

Our laws (rules) mean nothing anymore and yet the Government never gets tired of creating more so they can say the problems are being addressed.

Anonymous said...

The only reason why the buildings Dept did anything was because it was in Manhattan. If this was in Queens the buildings Dept would have marked the complaint as unfounded.

Anonymous said...

"They dug too deep." Now, that's a term that one seldom (if ever), hears when it comes to the endless loop of City Hall corruption, graft and greed. Likewise, the overflowing cesspool better known as King Andrew Cuomo-land's 'pay-to-play' Albany.

And, now that we finally hear such a term, it's usage is for the most literal of senses to describe an illegal excavation--and, naturally another DOB lashing with a wet noodle!

New York City: A criminal run exterprise that has even organized crime families scratching their crooked little heads in disbelief!

Anonymous said...

Makes the tunnel they dug in the film, "Stalag 17" an amateur job.

Anonymous said...


The New York City council is one of the best criminally run organizations around, after the DOB.
Look up your council member's campaign donations online, and find out who really owns your "representative".
I just love the internet!
I once looked up Melinda Katz's backers, when she ran for city council. It read like the who's who of real estate developers.
Now she's your borough president!
From criminal Manes...to his apt accomplice, Shulman....to the bobble head Marshal (always siding with developers)...to developers's whore, Katz....
we continue to get screwed.
Imagine if Barry Grodenchik become beep? A hand me down hack who will fuck us to the hilt!

Anonymous said...

Wanna see corruption and a real criminal enterprise? Try the Dept. of Education. Fake courses, fake credit, fake grades or else. Whistleblowers get assigned the worst classes in the worst schools, then are brought up on charges for non-existent deeds. Commie China has nothing on first Bloomberg's and now DeBlassio's Dept. of Education. Turning out "graduates" who can't read, write, or reason. I think the stat last year was that a whole 23% were deemed college ready. No wonder the colleges are stuffed with "students" taking years of remedial courses.

Anonymous said...

And they would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

Anonymous said...

There is an entire ghost town down there