Waterfront library's opening pushed back to 2019

From LIC Post:

Construction on the the Hunters Point Library is delayed once more, and is expected to be completed in August 2018 with a possible opening in 2019.

The update on the $40 million project was announced on Dec. 18, when the Department of Design and Construction and the Queens Public Library testified on the progress of several library projects during the City Council Subcommittee on Libraries meeting, chaired by Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Long Island City).

“It is a unique design,” Walcott said at the meeting. “When we talk about outfitting a normal library it can be three to four months. With Hunters Point we are saying six months.”

Van Bramer questioned the DDC and the QPL on the series of “horrific” mistakes that have led to the project’s multiple delays, including the fiasco involving the glass used for the library’s windows.

The architect, Steven Holl, insisted that a specific type of glass be used for the building due to its lighting and heat features. The glass chosen was manufactured in Germany, glazed in Spain, and eventually exported to Connecticut before reaching Long Island City. The glass was held up in Spain, however, due to a strike by dock workers at a port.

Only "under two years" of additional delays? It's a Festivus miracle!

Steinway Mansion gets new windows and a gut reno

From George the Atheist:

LIC couple set free by building management

From the NY Post:

A luxury Queens building that blocked portions of palatial balconies belonging to some rent-stabilized tenants — so that high-paying, tiny-terraced residents didn’t develop a case of porch envy — has finally removed the partitions.

On April 21, the steel partitions were finally removed — but tenants had to agree to a litany of provisions, including: no drinking, not using their patios as storage space, no hanging of signs or flags, no kids without adult supervision, no barbecues and no bird feeders.

A spokesman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said management, tenants and a window-washing company hammered out a plan that maintained the “safety of tenants without impeding window washing.”

The building started off as a failed condo project, resuscitated thanks to $7.6 million in subsidies and $28 million in construction loans from the city. In return, 108 of the units are income restricted or rent-stabilized — as low as $1,103 for a studio.

The whole East Village is illegally converted

From the Wall Street Journal:

City inspections of more than 50 buildings in the East Village following the fatal March 26 explosion and fire at 121 Second Ave. have turned up violations related to gas lines, fire safety and illegal construction, city records show.

The blast, which leveled three buildings and killed two people, is being treated as a case of suspected gas diversion, officials have said. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating to determine if any criminal charges are warranted.

Two weeks after the blast, area residents remain concerned that problems that bedeviled 121 Second Ave. leading up to the explosion—a record of unlicensed construction work and building and housing violations—could be mirrored in their own buildings, some of which have records of complaints and violations going back years.

At one building across the street from the blast, gas has been shut off after inspections revealed construction without a permit and potentially illegal gas siphoning, records and interviews show. At another, Department of Buildings records show a violation for an improperly placed gas meter and new complaints alleging illegal boiler work, among other concerns.

Since March 26, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has issued violations at a number of buildings on the block, ranging from faulty locks, doors, handrails and windows to blocked fire escapes, lack of gas and failure to register as a multiple family dwelling with the department. One building was cited by the department for illegal use of the cellar as residential space, records show.

Recent complaints to the Department of Buildings for buildings on the block show concerns about unlicensed construction, fire hazards, and illegal conversion of space for bedrooms.

WTC rescue effort has happy ending

From the NY Times:

New York City firefighters on Wednesday afternoon rescued two window washers who became suspended 69 stories above the street while working at the newly completed 1 World Trade Center.

The workers, who were harnessed to the scaffolding of the window-washing equipment, were uninjured, the authorities said.

Shortly before 2 p.m., firefighters could be seen cutting a hole through a window near the platform, assembling inside and pulling the workers to safety.

Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro was succinct in summing up the efforts made during the day: “The results today — two men are going to go home tonight.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a news conference in Lower Manhattan, called the rescue “an extraordinary effort by the F.D.N.Y.”

Lock your windows!

From DNA Info:

Astoria has been hit with dozens of home burglaries in recent months with suspects using fire escapes to climb in through unlocked windows, police said.

The NYPD recorded 41 such incidents in the 114th Precinct since mid-December, the majority of which took place between 35th and 49th Streets between 30th and 34th Avenues, Deputy Inspector Kevin Maloney said.

The string of break-ins came after dozens more occurred in Forest Hills and Rego Park during the past six months, police said. In those, the burglar also entered through open windows.

In Queens North, which includes Astoria and Forest Hills, the last police statistics show burglary went up more than 25 percent through Feb. 23, even as the number of reported break-ins dropped more than 4 percent citywide during that period. Seven of the incidents took place on 34th Street between 30th and 31st Avenues, Maloney said.

Police believe the burglar or burglars are gaining access to the roofs of residential buildings, then walking down the fire escapes to look for unsecured rear windows. The rooftops of many buildings in the area are connected, allowing the suspects to hit more than one building at a time, police said.

Once inside, the burglars make off with handheld electronics, cash and jewelry, Maloney said.

There's also been a rash of burglaries in Ozone Park.

Cinderblocked windows at abandoned train station are ugly

"When I pass by the missing faux window of the abandoned Union Hall station on the LIRR, I think of the South Bronx in the 1980s, when fake windows were installed on abandoned apartments so that passing motorists would get a better impression of The Bronx.

If the MTA won't restore this station, at least replace the missing faux windows!" - anonymous

$2M crapper looking worse for wear

Here's the $2M toilet at Elmhurst Park.

The story goes that someone graffitied the windows and parkies were told to clean it.

But unfortunately, the cleanser they used damaged them.

Lord knows how much it will cost to replace the custom windows. Being this is Elmhurst, they'll probably just leave them that way.

Glen Oaks Village replaces windows during Polar Vortex

"It's freezing cold out there today and Dun-Rite workers are installing windows on 76th Avenue and 246th Street in Bellerose, starting at 8am when the temp was 7 degrees. Most residents were in their pajamas or night dress when installers came knocking on their doors. Some could not even have a breakfast. The workers today are different from yesterday. Asked one worker and he clearly stated anyone who wants a job can come to work despite the weather. These are recruited by a temporary employment agency in Brooklyn and no handyman experience is required. Also asked the workers if they are cold and their reply is, "yes but we need the bread." No one from the usual crew showed up for work including Wallace and George who oversee everyone." - Glen Oaks Family on Facebook

Mary Immaculate looks worse than previously reported

From Clean Up Jamaica Queens:

Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, which was located at 152-11 89th Avenue, right across from Rufus King Park, closed it’s doors back in 2009 like so many other Queens Hospitals, including Jamaica’s other hospital, St. John’s Queens, putting 2500 hospital employees out of work and putting a big burden on the people of Jamaica and Queens.

Since then the boarded up hospital sits there and not looking so immaculate these days.

Even though there has been talk of the large building being turned into condos or market rate apartments (and there are work permits posted all over), the once immaculate hospital is looking pretty shitty these days. Open windows side by side with many broken windows (talk about your Broken Window Theory), boarded up windows and doors, an air conditioner hanging barely from one window, huge tree branches broken and crashed into the railings of the adjacent parking garage, garbage strewn around, including mattresses, shopping carts and furniture, plus homeless people can be seen sleeping on the outside (maybe in the inside), the place is easily accessible, since there are very little fences around the buildings main entrance.

So Jamaica endures another eyesore in the community, a huge one just a couple of blocks from the downtown area.

A crap above - Bed-Stuy edition

This shot comes from along DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, but I was just kind of "floored" by what the developer is doing here. Not only are they building up, but it appears that they changed the height of each existing floor. So I suppose, in essence, we have a new building being constructed under an alteration permit. It seems like an awful lot of work. Might as well start from scratch.

Here's the interesting thing...upon looking this one up, I discovered that the permit has been revoked! Maybe they did something hinky with the zoning? Or just ignored the multiple SWOs they received?

Walled in by apartment building in the Bronx

From CBS New York:

A Bronx family is up in arms over a four-story apartment building that is going up inches from their 1920s one-story brick cape on Bruckner Boulevard.

Patty Justiniano told 1010 WINS that the owner of the neighboring lots knocked on her door a year ago to explain his plan to build.

“He informed me he was building a lovely home for him and his mother and I was like, ‘Yeah right,’” Justiniano said.

“How do I replace that siding? How do I repair that siding? How do I clean my gutters?” Justiniano asked.

The new apartment building also blocks 10 windows on the side of her house.

“What do you do with them now? You don’t open them up because you’re looking at grey cinder blocks,” Justiniano said.

The Department of Buildings said the construction is within legal limits.

Justiniano admits that her home has a one-foot property line, but said the developer had two lots and could’ve moved at least a couple of feet away.

The city said the family can file a zoning challenge.

I'm surprised the City Council hasn't revised the buildings code to eliminate this type of thing. Oh, wait, that would hurt the bottom line of the developers to whom they are slaves.

Thanks a lot (line)!

From the Times Newsweekly:

The transparent covering was installed above the patio area in the rear of their 65th Place dwelling, but the owner of the home abutting their residence protested, claiming encroachment on their easement. This led to an ongoing feud between the property owners which not only led to a costly lawsuit but also legal action by several city agencies.

James Chu told the Times Newsweekly in a phone interview that he and his wife bought their 65th Place residence in November 2004. In the years since they moved in, their neighbor’s home was constructed; the residence directly abuts the Chu home and extends several feet adjacent to their rear yard.

Lot-line windows were also built in the rear of their neighbor’s home; according to James Chu, the windows violate the rules and regulations of the building code enforced by the city Department of Buildings (DOB).

The Chus recently installed the transparent awning above their patio area, leaving two feet of space from their neighbor’s building. Following the installation, James Chu noted, their neighbor claimed that the awning violated their easement, which was later found to extend over the Chus’ backyard.

James Chu told this paper that neither he nor his wife knew about the extended easement prior to and during the closing on their home back in November 2004.

“Meanwhile, the DOB is auditing our permits for the erection of a clear awning at the rear of our building,” Elizabeth Chu added in an email to the Times Newsweekly, “and the Environmental Control Board imposed a fine against us for having what everyone else on our block and neighborhood seems to have with or without a permit. Apparently, they think that we violated the law when we put up a standard weather protection awning for which they issued a building permit, but that they made no error when they approved my neighbor’s lot line windows without the fire protection mandated by the building code.”

Buildings Department records indicated that multiple complaints were filed on each of their residences back in October. An examination of the records found that the complaints against the Chus’ property were determined to be unfounded, while no action had yet to be taken by DOB inspectors on their neighbor’s property.

How is it that a reporter was able to take a photo of the lot line windows but the DOB couldn't access them? I guess it's more important to give violations to homeowners whose houses were destroyed than to address this.

Window guards, elevators not being inspected

From Metro:

After a 2-year-old girl fell out of a fifth-floor window that her mother said did not have mandatory safety bars, an audit by City Comptroller John Liu alleges that the city is too often lax when it comes to checking that bars are installed.

According to city law, landlords must install window guards if a child 10 years old or younger lives in the building.

The Department of Health fielded 37,148 window guard violations from 2007 to 2009. They then directed the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to follow up. Yet, after looking at a sample — 632 — of those violations, Liu found that HPD closed nearly half of them, 288, without ever verifying with the tenant that bars were indeed installed. An HPD spokesman said inspectors did indeed return to check — they just weren’t always allowed in by tenants.

From the Daily News:

Nearly three years after a 5-year-old died trying to escape a stalled housing project elevator, whistleblowing city inspectors say they're being told to fake reports and take safety shortcuts.

The city Housing Authority vowed to get on top of elevator safety after Jacob Neuman fell 10 stories to his death in August 2008 trying to squeeze out of a stuck lift at a Brooklyn project.

Years later, six inspectors have come forward to say the system remains unsafe because bosses pressure them to close inspections without doing a thorough job.

They say supervisors are obsessed with meeting a daily quota of six inspections a man, often ordering them to move to the next job without shutting dangerous elevators and waiting for a mechanic, as NYCHA rules dictate.

One veteran inspector who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation said he was under constant pressure not to pull the plug on unsafe elevators.

"I told them somebody's wife could be riding on that elevator, somebody's kid," he said. "They didn't want to hear it."

Fewer broken windows means less crime?

From the NY Times:

Score one for the broken-windows theory, that largely hypothetical correlation between vandalism and crime. Overall crime in the New York metropolitan area has declined in the past six years. So has the number of broken windows.

Of the five million homes and apartments counted in 2009, windows were reportedly broken in 23,500, compared with 156,900 in the 4.8 million counted six years earlier, the Census Bureau said this week.

The number of boarded-up windows in all housing declined to 16,600 from 54,000, and the number of residences where windows were protected with bars fell to 159,500 from 901,900.

The contrast over six years was even starker among occupied buildings: 9,800 of the 4.5 million residences reported broken windows in 2009, compared with 48,300 of the 4.4 million homes six years earlier.

The survey results were compiled from direct questions asked of residents across the New York metropolitan area. “Boarded-up windows” were defined as having been sealed off to protect against weather or entry. “Broken windows” means at least several broken or missing panes.

Suzuki horror homes still vacant

Here's another Sam Suzuki property in Flushing.

The courtyard to the old "Bowne Tree" apartments was filled in with this horror.

It's remained vacant for about a decade (now sporting broken windows) unable to obtain a valid certificate of occupancy because it violates NYC's fire code.

Note:
Suzuki is on public record for having contributed to John Liu's campaign.

Nice company you keep Mr. Comptroller Liu!

U.S. Window Factory shuttered

From the NY Times:

The U.S. Window Factory, of shrill-nasal-voiced-Brooklynese-woman-and-high-pitched-fast-talking-spokesman radio-ad fame, is a real place. It’s on Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, down the street, fittingly, from the Queens Auto Mall — You Are Already Approved! — and a couple of blocks from Phil Rizzuto Park, where the Scooter’s ghost still pitches for the Money Store.

Early this morning, a couple of workers outside were tossing old windows into a Dumpster. It looked like fun.

But the Window Factory building itself — nice windows, by the way, vinyl, Energy Star-rated, except for the plywooded-over ones that blew out in the tornado — was locked up tight. The gates were down, and in the showroom, 10,000 normally gleaming square feet of window displays and efficient saleswomen at desk stations, all was darkness.

“Due to landlord’s building violations our showroom is temporarily closed” said a big sign on the outside. A fine-print notice from the Department of Buildings dated Sept. 21 elaborated. “It is hereby ordered that all persons occupying any parts of the structure located at Entire Building vacate such part or parts of the premises forthwith,” it read, warning of “imminent danger to life and public safety” and adding:

A (3) story commercial building has been illegally converted from storage to furniture factory at cellar. First floor occupied as window factory. Second floor occupied as garment factory. Entire building’s sprinkler system removed. Standpipes not operating. Entire building at cellar, first, second and third floors has no secondary means of egress.

In the parking lot, one of the window factory’s owners, Gino Orange, supervised as workers transferred a load of double-hungs from one truck to another. Mr. Orange said that the problem lay with the intransigence of the building’s owner, Amir Rotlevi of A.F.C. Industries in College Point, Queens.

Wind 1, Window 0

From the NY Post:

Violent gusts of wind yesterday blew out windows from the 52nd floor of a luxury apartment building in Midtown, sending glass and debris raining onto the street.

The window, about 30 by 30 feet, crashed to the ground at 4:25 p.m. from 117 East 57th Street. Magician David Copperfield lives in the building but in another apartment.

No one was hurt in the building or on the ground.

About an hour earlier, bricks fell from the roof of a Harlem apartment building.

Officials were trying to determine if the wind -- which reached as high as 60 mph -- caused the incident.

Have there been increased incidents of bricks and windows committing suicide?

Also, a tree limb fell on a man's shoulder in Flushing, Queens, at around 1:10 p.m. He was taken to New York Hospital of Queens in stable condition.

Strange find in Jackson Heights

From Lost City:

The man likes his windows, no? Likes some of that good old sunlight? Or is a giant, maybe, and hates stooping down to look outside.

Striking. So are we dealing to two floors here or one high-ceiling level? And where do you get curtains that long? Kinda like it. Sorta suspect his neighbors hate it, though.

EPA studying PCBs in city schools

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency and New York City have announced a pilot program to address the problem of potentially hazardous PCBs in construction materials in some city schools.

According to the EPA, hundreds of schools across the United States have caulk around windows and doors that contain PCBs.

Under the agreement announced Tuesday, New York City will conduct a pilot program in five schools to determine the best way to minimize exposure to PCB-contaminated caulk.

PCBs are formally known as polychlorinated biphenyls. They are chemicals that were widely used in construction and electrical materials before they were banned in the late 1970s.

PCBs can hurt the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and can cause cancer if they build up in the body over long periods of time.