They're Building It Back badly

From PIX11:

After the tri-state area was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy back in October 2012, "Build It Back," a federally funded program supervised by New York City was created.

The goal of the program is to help people get their homes back.

We get a lot of complaints about delays in Build It Back projects and other issues, but Frank Scarantino has a new one. The Build It Back project next door is flooding his home.

“This wall — they just created it. And when it comes into the street from the high tide this gets all flooded,” Scarantino said. "And the water does not go away for a minimum of a week to two weeks.”

The program is supposed to be helping, but instead they’re causing all kinds of problems for the people next door. Scarantino and his wife fixed their home without the help of Build It Back.

Scarantino told me that the contractor said they will build a retaining wall. The only question is, when?

Zombie home causes neighbors to get fines

From CBS:

To some it’s been referred to as a zombie house in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, but the battle is heating up now that some residents are being told they have to help pay for repairs that fall on shared property.

Neighbors have called the property an eyesore, a mosquito haven, and even a drug house for at least ten years on Schley Avenue. Since 2008, the house has had two absentee owners and even went into foreclosure.

The home is currently privately owned by Eric Totoram and now, neighbors say they’re at their wits end.

Margaret Alverez is one of three residents who share a retaining wall with the property and have now received a citation from the city saying they need to repair the wall.

And the latest from the Steinway Mansion...

Courtesy of George the Atheist

Cars fall victim to Brooklyn mudslide

From NBC:

Several cars were buried in debris after a garage wall collapsed in Brooklyn Friday morning, authorities say.

No one was injured when the 20 foot-by-20 foot wall fell in Crown Heights around 7 a.m. Four cars were flattened underneath collapse.

NYPD deployed K9 units to scour the rubble on Crown Street to make sure no one was trapped underneath, and checked neighbors' security camera footage as well.

The collapse was likely caused by this week's heavy downpours, which possibly made the supported retaining wall even weaker, according to fire officials.

Forensic engineers are trying to determine the integrity of the structure. It's not clear what caused the wall to fall.

Heavy rain causes wall collapse

From Eyewitness News:

Dozens of people had to be evacuated Saturday morning when a retaining wall collapsed in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.

The residents were evacuated from an apartment building on Cabrini Avenue, after the collapse at a building behind it on Pinehurst Avenue.

The building manager says a fire escape was ripped off a wall of the apartment building.

About 100 residents were displaced by the 4 a.m. collapse, which affected 35 apartments in all that face the rear courtyard.

It is still unclear when they will be allowed back into their building.

Bigger problems at Quaker Meeting House

From the Queens Chronicle:

Problems at the Quaker Meeting House range beyond the below-ground utility pole base, reported by the Chronicle last week.

Ongoing issues with a neighboring construction site include shifting borders caused by a 28-foot-deep retaining wall supported by 10 large steel I-beams. The wood and cement barrier has effectively moved 80 feet of the Meeting House’s property line back 3 feet.

The planned apartment building at 136-33 37 Ave. has been in limbo after a stop-work order was issued following the invasion into the Quaker house’s property.

The incursion also included the destruction of a previous retaining wall, with the extent of the damage at the property’s western corner still unknown.

“They didn’t tell us about their plans to put this retaining wall on our property and get our permission, as they are required to do,” said Linda Shirley, member of a committee designed to address ongoing problems with the adjacent construction site. She added the retaining wall provided extra real estate to the project — on the cheap.

“This was unquestionably a planned intrusion, and it’s also undeniable that they purposefully ignored our property rights and their moral responsibility to respect the cemetery and the National Historic Landmark,” she said in an email exchange.

Cemetery and DOT in war over cleaning

From The Forum:

According to [Pat] Noonan and another resident in that area who did not want to give his name, they have asked Dan Austin, president of All Faith’s Cemetery, to clean up the weeds and trees that sit on the edge of the property.

Noonan and the other resident have also complained to local and city officials about the area, including State Senator Joe Addabbo, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and the Department of Transportation (DOT).

When asked by The Forum about the area, Austin said that the cemetery does not own that property and it is the city’s responsibility. He said that he has paperwork from DOT that says that the city is in charge of the maintenance.

He also said that the size and width of that side of the street isn’t big enough to make a sidewalk and they are waiting for the city to put a retaining wall in that area.

Austin said that they have been cleaning up that property despite it not being their responsibility.

But a letter from that Queens DOT Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy to Borough President Marshall, says the cemetery is responsible for taking care of that area.

“The All Faith Cemetery is responsible for the maintenance of its property,” the letter read, which was obtained by The Forum and is dated January 20 of this year. “This includes vegetation along the side of the road on 73rd Place.”

A DOT spokesperson echoed McCarthy’s letter, saying that the cemetery is responsible for the road’s maintenance.

Noonan also said that Councilwoman Crowley’s office secured a money allocation to clean up the road almost two years ago, but the project never happened.

What a surprise!

City repairing retaining walls

From NY1:

Retaining walls are critical for keeping roadways safe and now, as part of a major rehabilitation plan, the city is working to reconstruct hundreds of them across the five boroughs.

The Department of Design and Construction is currently working on two retaining walls in the Bronx in dire need of repair -- Bailey Place in Kingsbridge and Palisade Avenue in South Riverdale.

Twenty other walls are currently in the design phase.

The city began inspecting and monitoring roughly 650 walls across the five boroughs after a privately-owned one on the Henry Hudson Parkway collapsed back in 2005.

"It just shows you what's happened, what will happen, and what can happen if you neglect the maintenance of these things," said DDC Commissioner David Burney.

Officials say the plan will improve safety and preserve neighborhood streetscapes.

Shaking things up on Borden Avenue

Here we are at 65-45 Borden Avenue in Maspeth. If it's an old one story home, it's sure to be replaced with crap. This one was particularly old, as it had a retaining wall in front of it.

Demolition occurred recently, and as of yesterday, the operation had allegedly caused some damage to adjacent property. DOB hasn't yet responded to this priority A complaint. I think someone has to die before they haul ass out there to investigate. When they do come, they'll just call it a civil court matter and won't even levy a fine.

No plans for what will be built have been filed yet. But the lot is owned by a Fabian, so you can just imagine. The faux mansard roof on the corner building is something else, isn't it?

City to pay for retaining walls

From the Times Ledger:

Homeowners received a letter two years ago informing them of the city Department of Environmental Protection’s interceptor project, which will lay a large sewer line behind their properties from 11th Avenue to the nearby Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant on Powell’s Cove.

The retaining wall behind Tony Stinga’s house, which was built before he purchased the home, extends beyond his property line by about 20 feet. He said he was staring at a $50,000 bill when he was informed that he would be responsible for replacing it.

Faced with the possibility of foreclosure, Stinga gathered his neighbors and they contacted state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who set up a meeting with DEP and the city Parks Department.

“Many of these homeowners were being put in situations where they needed to take immediate action at costs that would have forced them into foreclosure,” Avella said. “From the start it was clear that the city should assume the cost of removing these structures and reinstalling them at the new property line.”

The DEP agreed to assume the costs of taking down and replacing Stinga’s and another neighbor’s retaining walls because the structures were installed before they purchased their homes.

DOB caught ignoring blatant violation

I was going to write a post letting you know that the St. Saviour's site had been shut down yesterday by DOB for failure to adhere to a stop work order issued in 2009. But just as I was about to hit publish, I received the following e-mail:

"I am at the St. Saviour's site right now and there is a DOB inspector here. The stop work order was not lifted but they are allowing construction to proceed. The inspector is watching the operation. There also was a sanitation inspector here this morning."

So, the DOB inspector stood there and watched construction take place on a site that has a chain link fence rather than the required construction fence, for which the owners were previously cited by DOB [note: CERTIFICATE DISAPPROVED] and there is a current complaint for the same. And on top of that, they have work plans that should never have been approved because they are inaccurate and violate zoning.

I suppose this is par for the course. [begin sarcasm] But I'm sure the elected officials are working hard behind the scenes to get this corrected [end sarcasm].





On top of this, "Notice to Revoke" was posted on the permits yesterday, yet there is an inspector aiding the operation today?

Something fishy in Flushing

Courtesy of CherokeeSista.

DOB says this is perfectly safe

"These were taken about 10am this morning at the St. Saviour's site. There was a partial stop work order in effect which stated that there could be no excavation within 20 feet of the damaged retaining wall and that they were to repair the shoddy construction fence. So they were replacing the fence manually while excavating the wall with heavy equipment without any protection whatsoever for the public. I can't really describe in words what was going on there - you have to watch these videos to understand. But the arm of the backhoe was swinging out over the sidewalk and they were driving it on top of an unstable mound of dirt. Both 311 and 911 were called but no one came."







More videos here.

When I got home, I received this:

Dear Ms. Wilkinson,

An inspector was sent to the above location this morning. At the time of the inspection, the Inspector observed no work in progress, except to make the site safe. Specifically, workers were observed using a machine to remove dirt from the sidewalk. The Department of Buildings will nonetheless continue to monitor the location to ensure compliance with the Stop Work Order.

Sincerely,

Byron Muñoz, MA
Liaison
Intergovernmental and Community Affairs
NYC Department of Buildings

I replied with a link to the photos and videos and asked them not to insult my intelligence.

Now there is a scramble to try to save what's left of the historic stone wall." - Christina Wilkinson

UPDATE: "I got a call that a 10-foot section of the wall collapsed around 2pm." - Christina