Save Our Urban Life - Williamsburg

Community responds to Giant Possible Arson Fire in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Thursday, May 11, 10am, at Oak and Franklin Street intersection – no rain

2006-05-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

The North Brooklyn Alliance announces a press conference for Thursday, May 11, at 10 am, to respond to the devastating nearby waterfront fire that looked suspiciously like a deliberate and callous strategy to hasten luxury housing construction.

The North Brooklyn Alliance is a broad coalition of 35 Greenpoint and Williamsburg-based community organizations, businesses and partners from other neighborhoods throughout the City who are also the victims of over development and poor public policy. The mission of the Alliance is to ensure that big, important benefits, promised to the community, by the City, during the rezoning process are fulfilled. Unresolved zoning issues and community needs are also the Alliance’s concern, plus advocating for the creation of an action plan for timely and effective progress before any more catastrophic damage is done.

May 11th marks the one year anniversary of the City Council approval of the Mayor’s rezoning plan and it has become clear to the community leaders that corrective actions are needed now!

As controversy swirls over the possible criminal source of the fire, the North Brooklyn Alliance is calling this public gathering to proclaim the community’s outrage over the endangered lives, and lost history at the burned 100 –year-old warehouse landmark, and to demonstrate the unity that exists to work to protect the neighborhood from avaricious developers. Rather than succeeding to demoralize residents, the huge fire has catalyzed community attention and resolve to fight for community benefits, not destruction, and to protect the neighborhood from harm by avaricious developers.

Photography show and walking tours -Williamsburg/Greenpoint: The Disappeared And The Endangered

2006-05-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

at ART 101 Gallery

WILLIAMSBURG/GREENPOINT
The Disappeared and The Endangered

An Exhibition of Photography curated by Nancy Wechter

Works by Meredith Allen, Einat Bar, Vince Cianni, Joyce George, Peter Gillespie,
Anders Goldfarb, Regina Monfort, Mary Quinn, Claudia Sohrens,
Nancy Wechter, Bernie Yenelouis

A long-time resident of Williamsburg, photographer Nancy Wechter has felt the impact of the typhoon of alterations rained upon a once stable and peaceful neighborhood. It is just one year since the rezoning plan was passed, but the changes began with the first whispers of city-sponsored development along the waterfront and the old manufacturing district.

The loss of much that was familiar and comfortable; the endangered physical and human landscape, prompted Wechter to seek out documentation by her peers; to call attention to what is rapidly vanishing, while there is (is there?) still time. The photographs exhibited at ART 101 are by professional photographers, who live in the area and are deeply involved in the daily lives of the neighborhoods that have nourished them, both visually and personally

“As a born and bred New Yorker, I’m used to the constant changes that come with living in this city. However, Williamsburg and Greenpoint …are experiencing change on the scale of the Robert Moses era …and something special is being lost. By viewing what has existed in this neighborhood and what is now extremely vulnerable, we can define what we care about and what we want to work to keep…” (N.W.)

WILLIAMSBURG/GREENPOINT
The Disappeared and The Endangered
May 12 – June 4
ART 101
101 Grand Street between Berry & Wythe
Friday through Monday 1 – 6 pm
Or by appointment 718-302-2242
Reception May 19, 6 –9 pm

There will be two walking tours during the course of the exhibit:
1. Saturday, May 13, 10 am to 12 noon “Endangered Landmarks” led by Ward Dennis of The Waterfront Preservation Association,
2. Sunday, May 21, 10 am to 12 noon, “Urban Removal” led by Stephanie Thayer
Meet at ART 101 at 9:45 am

photo: Women Sunbathing on the Williamsburg Waterfront by Joyce George

NY Times: S. 11 St. tenants at risk from potential development

2006-03-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

New York Times - Williamsburg Journal
The Good Life on South 11th Street
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: March 15, 2006
For more than a century, the book business flourished inside two brick warehouses on South 11th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a block from the East River. Since the late 19th century, when the six-story structures were built between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue, they have often been occupied by publishers and presses, both recognized and rarefied.

Jim Fleming and Lewanne Jones, who may have to leave their 2,700-square-foot loft, can remember when the area was so bad that car thieves burned stolen cars in the street after stripping them for parts.
In recent decades, artists and performers moved in, but now they, along with the last remaining book publisher, may have to leave soon.

In the fall of 2004, a real estate concern, DOV Land L.L.C., bought one of the warehouses, which includes 36 spaces in which people live or work. Residents said the new owner made it clear to some of them that it wanted them to move out and began eviction proceedings against others. About three dozen residents in 13 living spaces went on a rent strike, and have withheld their payments for about a year.

Now the tenants are waiting for a decision by a judge in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, who will determine whether they are protected by rent stabilization laws. If not, then many longtime residents, including an array of artists and artisans, members of two circuses and the last publisher in either warehouse, are likely to have to move.

"If we have to leave this building it'll almost certainly mean leaving New York City," said Jim Fleming, 56, who has lived on the fourth floor of 55-65 South 11th Street since 1982. "Williamsburg has come to be thought of as hip, but we were a bunch of pioneer artists."

While living on South 11th Street, Mr. Fleming started Autonomedia, a nonprofit company that publishes criticism by authors like Dwight MacDonald, Guy Debord and Michel Foucault. Mr. Fleming and his companion, Lewanne Jones, 53, an archivist, live in a 2,700-square-foot loft — with painted wooden floors and homemade wooden shelves holding Mr. Fleming's personal library of 60,000 volumes — for which they had paid $787.35 a month since 1985. Since 1997, Autonomedia has used a space the same size on the second floor, with a rent of about $1,100.

Mr. Fleming and Ms. Jones, who have two children away in college, acknowledged that the rates they paid before joining the rent strike were well below market. They added that although the loft was spacious, life there was far from luxurious. Over the years, they said, they made their own plumbing repairs, paid for their own heat, and navigated streets lined with burned-out buildings. At times in the 1980's, Ms. Jones said, she was awakened by the sound of cars burning in the street outside; she said thieves would bring the cars there, strip them, and set them afire to dispose of them.

"Market rate has been created by the fact that people want to come here because of communities that were created by people like us," she said.

Gerard Proefriedt, a lawyer for the landlord, said his client had tried to negotiate with the tenants but without success.

"Through changes in the neighborhood and inflation and other market forces, the rental values have gone up," Mr. Proefriedt said. "The landlord, like any landlord who owns a building, wants to maximize rental income." Mr. Proefriedt refused to say what his client planned to do with the building. (The landlord also bought the other warehouse across the street, but many of the tenants there are protected by the loft law and cannot be easily evicted.)

While market values on the north side of Williamsburg have been rising for several years, gentrification has taken hold more slowly in this part, the south side. But on Kent Avenue, four blocks from Mr. Fleming's loft, some units in a new 26-story development called Schaeffer Landing are listed at up to $2 million.

More changes could be on the way nearby. Last May, the city approved an ambitious rezoning plan for the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfronts that will allow developers to build towers up to 40 stories tall.

Mr. Fleming said the two warehouses on South 11th Street were completed in 1870 and housed McLaughlin Brothers, which at the turn of the 20th century was one of the country's biggest companies making board games and publishing children's books. In the 1930's, he said, the American Book Company, which published school textbooks, moved in.

The cultural history of 55-65 South 11th Street took a more colorful turn as publishing faded. Alan Saret, known as an anti-form artist who makes wire sculptures, lives on the sixth floor, and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat used a studio there in the 80's, Mr. Fleming said.

Two members of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus live in rooms they built in the Autonomedia space on the second floor. On the floor above Mr. Fleming live Cindy Greenberg and Jennifer Miller, both members of the Circus Amok. Next door to them lives Gary Fierer, the singer in a band called Primordial Ooze.

On Thursday afternoon, Ms. Greenberg, 37, stood in her 1,500-square-foot loft, for which she and Ms. Miller were paying $450 a month. A trapeze hung from bolts in the ceiling and a closet was crammed with costumes and props.

At times, the story of 55-65 South 11th Street has inspired performances. Ms. Greenberg said the circus performed a series of shows last year about a magical cat that comes to the aid of embattled tenants.

"This is the headquarters, the storage, the rehearsal space, the living space," she said, noting that the circus is able to perform free because of the low overhead. "If we get kicked out, the question of whether we'll be able to keep the circus going is up in the air."

Finger Building Crane Hits Neighbor

2006-03-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, it finally happened, we've been worried about living 6 feet from the crane and the fact that it comes within inches of our building every time it swings. The crane tipped into our building this morning between 7:30-8 am. Between the 2nd and 3rd floors, you can see 2 indents on the outside wall of 143 North 7th that were left by the 2 counterweights of the lower part of the crane. It was a frightening experiencing on the inside. Max was playing beside our defunct fireplace in the front room. We both heard this soft thud and a long, loud ripping sound and looked up immediately at the wall above the fireplace to see this crack appear above and below a painting.

Paul ran out to stop the construction and one of the hard hats told him "we almost lost the crane!" It seems the wind caught the crane and tipped it backwards, but our building helped keep the crane from falling. The new safety director immediately disappeared, he's no longer the jovial fat guy but a young man with a scruffy beard who clearly has little experience.

911 was called, the fire dept came by and stopped the crane, checked their permits, checked the outside and inside of the building. They deemed the building sound. They expressed concern that the crane was so close to the building but was told it was out of the fire dept's jurisdiction to stop the crane's operation. They said it was up to the DOB. A best squad inspector came and believe it or not, issued a violation and said the construction site could go back to work. That's it a lousy violation and they're not moving the crane. They're pouring cement on the 4th floor now.

We've contacted the Cranes and Derries inspector of the DOB because if wind can tip the crane into our building, then it's too close and they say they'll send out someone today. btw, the C&D inspector referred to our building as a 20-story one so I'm sure the announcements about keeping the Finger to 10 stories is all BS.

Still it was a horrible experience especially since where the crane hit the wall, Max was playing with his toys on the other side. We're feeling a bit shaken and rather vulnerable. Though we don't want to leave our home, we don't feel safe in it either.

Paul and Sandra Leussing

More press: stop work orders don't stop work

2006-03-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

http://villagevoice.com/news/0610,moses,72430,5.html

Residence Evil
Stop-work orders don't stop bulldozing in Williamsburg

by Paul Moses
March 7th, 2006 11:38 AM

What bothers Ana Jaramillo the most is that her daughters, who are 7 and 9, remember it all. Faulty excavation at a construction site next door to their apartment on Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg tore gashes in their home and
rendered it unstable. The building where Jaramillo and her husband had been tenants for 10 years was ordered closed and sealed off. That was in June. The Red Cross sheltered the family of four in a motel. In July, the Jaramillos were consigned to a city shelter for homeless families. Jaramillo, 35, a kindergarten teacher working on a master's degree at City College, made the best of it. She continued working and studying and brought the girls back to Williamsburg to carry on their schooling at Northside Catholic Academy. The family had its own unit in the Harriet Tubman shelter in Harlem. Jaramillo wasn't used to the atmosphere there. So her husband, Luis, who had just started a security job at Kennedy Airport, quit to be around for his wife and girls to feel safe.

It went on that way until November, when the Jaramillos got an apartment in Sumner Houses, a Brooklyn housing project. "It was around Thanksgiving time," Jaramillo said. One of the girls asked, "Mommy, are they going to take this house away from us also?" "No," said Jaramillo. "They said, 'Mommy, is it going to fall like the other house?' I said, 'No.' They had questions. . .. I thought it would be less traumatic for them. . . . The first time we ate here, those were the questions they had. They'll have that with them."

This is one more example of how the levees protecting many a New Yorker have been breached by a storm of real estate development. The city needs new housing, just as it needs water. But it doesn't need a flood of dangerous construction
or rising rents to displace its own residents. The protections against these hazards are as suspect as the Gulf of Mexico levees.

The city department of buildings is one of the weak bricks in the wall. "Forget about it," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who held a news conference February 24 outside 22 Havemeyer Street, the construction site next to Ana Jaramillo's apartment. "How can anybody have any confidence in them?"

Here's one measure of that: Last year, there were 1,609 complaints that stop-work orders the buildings department issued were violated. Upon learning that, Lentol said, "It sounds to me that they are unable to enforce the law."

A computer-assisted analysis by the Voice of city records finds that most of the time, inspectors find no construction going on by the time they arrive˜but there are violations in about 10 percent of the cases. The numbers raise serious questions about public safety: If stop-work orders don't stop unsafe construction, what will?

Almost never does the buildings department refer a complaint to police, who can make an arrest. Buildings department spokeswoman Ilyse Fink said it happened once last year with a charge in Queens. She said the agency routinely sends copies of stop-work orders to police. But police spokesman Detective Walter Burnes said police wouldn't move on a case unless the
buildings department sought assistance.

Fink said the buildings department is moving forward on various fronts to improve construction safety. The agency˜which critics have long said is dangerously understaffed˜has gotten more employees in recent years, Fink said.

In his news conference, Lentol called for a fund to be created to provide for people who are displaced by faulty construction and for a task force to scrutinize applications for excavations. Fink said the buildings department is working on similar ideas.

Mike Choi, the developer at 22 Havemeyer, did not return a phone message asking his reaction to the news conference. When the Jaramillos were forced out in June, the buildings department had issued a citation charging that work was done without the proper permit. A stop-work order was issued. Records show that in August, a citation was issued charging a violation of
the stop-work order; it was later dismissed without a fine. In an interview in January, Choi said everything was resolved.

Not for Ana Jaramillo, who said she has to reassure her daughters that their new apartment is built firmly. Nor for Josephine Peluso, 77, who owns the building where Jaramillo was a tenant.

On President's Day, I chanced to find her standing outside her boarded-up building on Havemeyer Street, her Yorkie leashed to the fence. She told me that she now lives in an apartment down the block, having given up her two cats to qualify. But she spent her afternoon standing in front of her real home. "I was born in that house," she said.

The latest on the building mess

2006-03-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

THE GREENPOINT STAR
Dateline : Thursday, March 02, 2006
Buildings Consensus: Agency a Mess

By Shane Miller
Large demolition projects, damaged homes and forced evacuations are starting to become a way of life for residents of North Brooklyn, and many feel there is a genuine lack of concern on behalf of the city as their neighborhood and homes crumble around them. Frustrated, residents have spurred their State Assemblyman to introduce legislation at the state level that would place new oversights on a city agency.

"These are the kinds of buildings that are coming down all over the neighborhood," decried Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, pointing to a home on Havemeyer Street that was evacuated last year because excavation work next door made it unsafe to occupy. "In their midst, the Department of Buildings has seen it fit to throw up their hands and allow what is going on to continue to go on."

Lentol has already introduced one bill into the State Assembly that would require developers to set up an escrow account in case they damage the homes on either side of a construction site. The money could be used to pay for repairs or help with temporary relocation costs when tenants or homeowners are forced out of their residences. Lentol's legislation would also set up a system to expedite claims quickly.

"The money could be paid without having to go to court," Lentol told a crowd of about 20 on a blustery Friday morning.

Lentol also hopes to introduce a bill that would place strict liability on developers if they damage homes nearby. This would save slighted homeowners the trouble of proving negligence on the part of builders, which can result in long court cases at great expense to the aggrieved party.

Finally, Lentol wants to create a task force consisting of engineers, architects, inspectors and other professionals who would evaluate every demolition application on an individual basis. As Lentol noted, the homes in North Brooklyn sit on top of clay, water and sometimes even an underground oil spill, and therefore present a unique set of circumstances. "I'm not an architect or an engineer," admitted Lentol. "I don't know that much about buildings, but I'll work with the best people."

Lentol is waiting on a final draft of the last bill, but hopes to introduce it in the Assembly next week, and all of the bills will need to find co-sponsors in the State Senate. Lentol also doesn't expect a lot of help from the city or the mayor. "I expect the city will fight all of the bills," predicted the Assemblyman. "They don't want the micro-management of DOB, and they don't want the State Legislature telling them what to do."

When the Star called the mayor's office for comment, they referred inquiries to DOB. Spokesperson Ilyse Fink said that she felt the department and Lentol were basically "on the same page." "The assemblyman thinks that the problem is attached to demolition, but we think excavation is where we need to focus our energies," explained Fink.

Fink said that the Department met with Lentol last November and discussed many of the issues Lentol is addressing with his proposed legislation. She said that perhaps both parties walked out of the meeting with a slightly different expectation of how the other would proceed. "What is important is that we all agree that action is necessary," said Fink.

Fink said the department is considering a rule that would require developers to notify DOB 24 hours before they start excavation - like they do with demolition projects - so the department can keep closer tabs on the work. However, the new guidelines are in the very preliminary stages.

"This type of notice would enable our inspectors to visit these sites at the start of construction activity, and hopefully prevent the type of accidents that seem to be proliferating," wrote Fink in an email. Fink said that DOB was also pursuing "similarly themed" legislation that would require contractors to carry insurance specifically to cover damages they cause to adjoining properties. A draft version of the local law is currently under review by the city's Law Department. Fink added that Commissioner Patricia Lancaster has also formed a forensic engineering unit with expertise investigating construction accidents. The experts would examine collapses or accidents and work with the necessary parties to develop a plan to shore up surrounding homes.

But North Brooklyn residents like Peter Gillespie argue that it is time for the city to realize that there is a real crisis in the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, and that they need to take drastic steps.
"The city needs to understand that this is because of the recent rezoning, and that they can't deal with this on a case-by-case basis," Gillespie said last Friday.

Gillepsie said that in many cases it is up to individual homeowners to ensure that construction and demolition work next to their houses is proceeding in a safe manner, which he feels is backwards. "The responsibility falls on the developer, the DOB and ultimately the mayor," he argued.

Councilman Tony Avella of northeast Queens, an outspoken critic of DOB, agrees."The mayor has to see that the agency is in chaos, and in some ways I can't help but think that he is part of the problem," hypothesized Avella. "We need to take immediate action to get immediate results."

Avella and several of his like-minded colleagues are trying to set up a City Council task force that would oversee DOB. However, the Councilman says because there is a new Council it could take a while before the idea makes it back to the table. In the meantime, he has suggested to Commissioner Lancaster the idea of setting up a cabinet comprised of council members, DOB representatives, concerned residents and industry professionals, all of whom would meet on a regular basis. "We could set an agenda, and meet maybe once a month," explained Avella. "We could discuss the major problems, and then was could talk about what is being done to address them."

Last Friday, Lentol promised that if the city failed to take adequate action, he would call hearings at the state level. "I may be accused of overstepping my bounds, but it wouldn't be the first time," said Lentol.
"I wish more politicians would overstep their bounds," shouted Roger Owens, who along with his wife and two small children had to be evacuated from their home just before the holidays. They just moved back in last week. "If you hadn't," Owens continued, "we would probably still be homeless."

Good news: DoB comes back!!

2006-02-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

Ken Lazar and Bryan Winter will return to CB1 Public Safety meeting on March 9, at 6.30pm. The meeting will be at the Swinging Sixties Center, corner of Ainslie & Manhattan Ave (glad we have more room, since it was sooo crowded). Bring your stories, pictures, printouts from DoB website, anything to call attention to the epidemic problem of neighbor damage.

Remember, spring is coming and construction will really fire up!

The Williamsburg-Greenpoint Development Watchdog is gathering info for the meeting.

See you there!

Development Woes

2006-02-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Rubble With a Cause
Redevelopment woes: Williamsburg residents yanked out by their roots
by Paul Moses
The Village Voice February 3rd, 2006 12:52 PM

Roger Owens was putting his one-month- and three-year-old sons to sleep on November 14 when firefighters banged on the door of his home on Diamond Street in Williamsburg. "You have a minute to get out," Owens said they told him. With his wife, Pamela, and their children, Owens dashed out the front door to a jarring streetscape of spotlights, fire engines, and hundreds of onlookers. He soon learned that the city had ordered his home vacated because construction of luxury housing next door had so damaged an adjacent building that it threatened to fall down on his own three-story frame house, which has been in his family since 1890, through five generations. "It was frightening," said Owens, a retired police officer. Such is life in the rezoned world of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where even the most rooted property owner can wind up homeless on a minute's notice and where longtime tenants, both residents and businesses, are subject to massive rent increases, eviction, and harassment. Last May's deal between the Bloomberg administration and City Council to rezone the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhoods for a Manhattan-like string of luxury skyscrapers has superheated the area's already hot real estate market—but city officials have yet to follow through on millions of dollars in protections pledged for tenants and businesses displaced by rising rents. A $2 million fund is supposed to help tenants and aid in the battle against the sort of building abuses that drove Owens from his home. Now, the fine print looms large: The money is to come from sale of air rights over an MTA bus garage. But first the city has to find room for a new depot, the MTA says. City officials wouldn't predict how long that will take. And, as reported, a $4 million fund to help displaced industrial businesses relocate isn't available yet. The Bloomberg administration and City Council are "at an impasse" in talks on how to spend the money, said Councilman David Yassky, who is pushing for some of it to subsidize workers' health costs. "I am very frustrated by this," he said. "We did this rezoning eight months ago and these resources still are not out there."

Administration officials also have expressed frustration that the money hasn't been distributed. But neither side sounds as frustrated as Herb Engler, who has written a torrent of letters and e-mails seeking money from the fund to relocate his company, Penn State Fabricators, which is due to be forced out by a housing developer on February 28 after 36 years in Greenpoint. "At this point I am not only fighting for my own existence, but for those that are presently working for me," Engler wrote in a January 27 e-mail to all councilmembers, ". . . We are being forced to possibly close the company, and those that are responsible DO NOTHING."

Peter Gillespie, executive director of Neighbors Against Garbage, said local groups are reorganizing to press for the money promised in the rezoning deal. "The devil's in the details," he said. "If these promises aren't fulfilled, this rezoning is going to be a disaster for the community."

Neill Coleman, spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said he couldn't give a timetable on when the money for helping tenants will be available. He pointed to the rezoning deal's provision for affordable housing—one-third of the new units, with half of those for community residents. In addition, he said, the zoning is being revised to require builders to get a certificate from HPD certifying that they had not harassed tenants. But the tenant fund is awaiting action from the MTA on the bus site, he said.

Jacek Bikowski, who counsels about 80 tenants a week who face the loss of housing, said the money to fight tenant harassment and illegal building is needed now. "By the time we get the money . . . most of the people who are about to be evicted will in fact be evicted," said Bikowski, who works for North Brooklyn Development Corporation and the People's Firehouse. Bikowski said the tenants he sees—often elderly Polish-speakers earning under $800 a month—don't want to leave and so are bunking with other seniors, curtaining off rooms. "This is their community and they have doctors and churches and friends," he said.

While the rezoning will create affordable housing, it's not soon enough for tenants like Marie Ditizio, 70.
She said she is under court order to get out by June 30 from the apartment where she's lived in a two-family house on North 7th Street for the past 28 years. With rents running at least double the $600 she's paying now, there is nothing she can afford. "I don't know what to do," she said.

The real-estate tumult has been so tough on the elderly that it has forced some to move in with out-of-town relatives or to a nursing home. This is what happened to Phyllis Mascia's two sisters-in-law. All three widows were evacuated from their apartments on Havemeyer Street on June 15. The Buildings Department issued vacate orders for the Mascia family's building and another one two doors down because excavation done to put up new housing at 22 Havemeyer Street caused cracks in the neighboring buildings. Work was being done in violation of a previous stop-work order, according to city records.
Mascia, 67, said the "Golden Girls," as she dubbed them, were separated. A 90-year-old sister-in-law moved to a nursing home, and another, age 87, moved in with her son on Long Island. Mascia found a studio apartment down the block.
The developer, Mike Choi, had wanted to buy the two adjacent buildings, Mascia said. "He had been trying to buy our two buildings before this incident for years, and even afterwards he had the audacity to say, I'll give you $450,000 for the property and you can live in the [new] building," Mascia said. "What a nerve. . . . I said, `You don't understand, Mr. Choi. We're not landlords. We're not developers. This is our home. This is our castle." Asked if he had offered to buy Mascia's building, Choi said he didn't know. But, he said, he has been allowed to continue building at 22 Havemeyer Street and the problems have been resolved.

Ilyse Fink, spokeswoman for the Buildings Department, said the developer was fined $4,960. She said a vacate order was lifted on Mascia's building but one remained in place on another next to the construction. Mascia said she didn't know the vacate order was lifted until after a local official (alerted by an inquiry from the Voice) told her. "The Buildings Department doesn't know what it's doing," Mascia said, adding her building was beyond repair.

The delayed city funding, noted Bikowski, would help neighborhood groups stop such abuses. "We need to research what's going on, follow up on every development, check records of landlords' harassment," he said. "We would increase the cooperation with the Department of Buildings."

In the meantime, Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, a Greenpoint Democrat, has proposed legislation requiring developers to create escrow accounts to reimburse those displaced by faulty construction.

Owens said that ultimately he casts blame for what happened to him on the city for allowing such rapid change and then doing little to help those it hurt. "I have more anger for the city than I do for the builder," he said, adding that the builder, at least, found him an apartment. The pressure is not likely to ease: Owens said he got an unsolicited offer for his home even after it had just been ordered vacated. "Somebody came up to me that night," he said. "I said, `Listen pal, this isn't my investment . . . it's my home.' "

DoB comes to CB1 Public Safety meeting

2006-02-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

Deputy Borough Commissioner Bryan Winter and Ken Lazar of Governmental Affairs came to a meeting with our community.
Few expected the crowd. It packed the small room, and spilled out into the hall. Emotions ran high, and lots of neighbors had sagas of damage by neighboring construction.

Ward Dennis asked the DoB people to introduce themselves. They spoke about how much Brooklyn wants building development, and that it is difficult because of the soft soil here. The homeowners couldn't restrain themselves, so many were so upset by the damage done to their homes. They spoke about chunks of roof falling into their yard, evacuations from homes, harrassment and threats from developers. One neighbor was out of her home for 7 months, only to move back in and find out that the following week next-door developers would be underpinning her home without giving her notice at the address they knew she had been evacuated to. And on and on.

Then Winter and Lazar said that existing community safety was their first priority. But that DoB is reactive, that is, they need a complaint to act.

They were surprised to hear that 311 does not always accept construction complaints and that people can get frustrated with the 311 route. Excessive noise can be a matter for DEP, and they can be called separately. Also complaints can be made to Gerry Esposito or Marie of CB1. We learned that there is one building inspector assigned to CB1, Andy, and that another inspector may come in depending on complaint locations and case load. When immediate safety is an issue, it might be a good idea to call the police.

As general guidelines, construction is allowed from 7am to 6pm M-F. Work at any other time requires a special variance permit for each day. And that variance must be displayed, for Saturday work, by the Thursday before. If any site is working outside of those hours, call 311.

They said homeowners should see plans of neighboring construction.
Winter recommended using DoB's BIS website and the ACRIS system (links at the right on this page). He also suggested oasisnyc.com for the big overhead picture and pshark.com. Also Department of City Planning has a "Zoning Handbook" for $8 which is a good guide for what is permitted by rezoning.

They told us about a pilot safety program, educating contractors in the South Slope area, that seemed to improve things. Peter Gillespie called for the program to go borough wide, since we are in a crisis situation.

DoB asked the community for a list of sites where construction damages neighbors. A list is in the works and will be to them within a week of the meeting. Lazar (and possibly Winter) will return in a month to report.

Diana Reyna's office sent a representative. Yassky's office did not send anyone to the meeting even though they were notified.

TIME TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING

2006-02-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

ADDRESSING THE CITY WIDE CONSTRUCTION FRENZY

2006-02-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/weeklyView.cfm?articlenumber=1845
City Limits WEEKLY
Week of: January 30, 2006
Number: 520
UNDER THE WIRE: DEVELOPERS
RACE TO BUILD BEFORE REZONING

City Councilmember Tony Avella proposes new legislation to stop illegal last-minute construction By Bruce Wallace

Lilly Pappas was surprised to see construction workers digging up earth and pouring concrete at a long-vacant lot on Barker Avenue in the Bronx this fall. But Pappas, who runs the Olinville Taxpayers and Civic Association, a neighborhood organization active on development issues, was even more surprised when, in the weeks that followed, she received a flurry of complaints about late night and weekend demolition at this and other properties in the area. “The real estate developers were trying to sneak in under the law,” she said.

Olinville is one of several neighborhoods throughout the city facing new zoning regulations that will, in most cases, restrict the size of buildings in residential areas. But in their mad dash to complete projects before the deadlines hit, neighbors say, some developers are skirting noise restrictions and building codes.

City Councilmember Tony Avella, chair of the council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, is hoping to put the brakes on such development with legislation that would freeze new building permits during the roughly 45 days between the Planning Commission's approval of a rezoning and the City Council vote that makes it law.

Avella’s council district in Queens includes Bayside, which had over 100 stop-work orders issued during the rezoning that went into effect in April 2005. But the problem, he said, goes far beyond Queens, and has outpaced the city's response. Without sufficient resources, he said, “the Department of Buildings has problems catching even the most egregious problems."

Since September 2004, 21 patches of the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn have been rezoned, placing new building restrictions on over 2,100 blocks, most recently in Olinville, South Park Slope in Brooklyn, and Whitestone in Queens. Ten more proposals, including ones for Pelham Bay in the Bronx, Middle Village/Glendale in Queens and Midwood in Brooklyn, should face a final City Council vote in the coming months. If all the proposals pass, it would mean an additional 800 blocks of rezoned land.

“THE MINUTE WE SUBMITTED THE REZONING APPLICATION, THERE WAS MORE DEVELOPMENT THAN I'VE EVER SEEN," said Carmen Rosa, district manager of Bronx Community Board 12, home to Olinville and recently rezoned Woodlawn.

Councilman James Oddo, whose district was part of a borough-wide rezoning in Staten Island, saw the same “beat the clock” phenomenon there. “You literally saw cement trucks flying all over the island trying to get their foundations poured. It was bedlam,” said Oddo, one of the bill’s 21 co-sponsors.

Zoning changes are an increasingly popular tool sought by residents hoping to cap the size and type of buildings that can be built in an area. Until recently, many neighborhoods had decades-old zoning laws. But since Amanda Burden was appointed chair of the department in 2002, it has become increasingly proactive in responding to community requests for zoning studies.

But many neighbors don't anticipate the frantic activity prompted by pending changes. Aaron Brashear, a resident turned activist in South Park Slope, saw cement trucks clogging the streets and heard jackhammers pounding as he ate dinner. "WE WERE SEEING PROPERTIES FULL OF VIOLATIONS, DEMOLITION AND CONSTRUCTION THAT WAS ENDANGERING ADJACENT PROERTIES," he said.

CITYWIDE, THE LEVEL OF CITIZEN COMPLAINTS ABOUT CONSTRUCTION SITES HAS RISEN FROM AN AVERAGE OF ABOUT 4,000 COMPLAINTS PER MONTH IN 2000 TO AN AVERAGE OF 10,000 PER MONTH IN 2005. This increase is well above the percentage growth in new building applications in the same period. Jennifer Givner, a Department of Buildings spokesperson, attributed the rise to the ease of making complaints through the new 311 hotline and an increase in public awareness. She said the department would be hiring and assigning more staff to investigate citizen complaints and increase enforcement.

Meanwhile, Avella expects his moratorium bill, which was introduced last year but didn't reach a full vote, to be reintroduced in the next few weeks.

Allen Cappelli, counsel for the Building Industry Association of New York City, called Avella’s bill “politically motivated” and “dangerous.” People, he said, need to stop worrying and embrace bigger buildings. “Everyone’s so housing-phobic that the idea of any density scares the hell out of them,” he said.

Brashear disagreed. “We’re not anti-development," he said. "But it has just been so out of scale that it’s changed the neighborhood."

--Bruce Wallace

Story of a neighbors' nightmare

2006-01-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

This from the NY Post:

NEIGHBORS' BUILDING NIGHTMARE
By ANGELA MONTEFINISE
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/pfriendly_new.php

Nine Brooklyn families have been homeless for months after faulty
construction at buildings adjacent to theirs forced them to evacuate.

Since June, two construction sites in Greenpoint and Williamsburg were shut
down by the city after shoddy work created unsafe conditions at the sites
and neighboring properties.

The city Fire and Buildings departments inspected the homes and then vacated
the shell-shocked neighbors.

"It's like a nightmare, like a bad dream," said Elizabeth Jankowski, whose
home on Diamond Street in Greenpoint was evacuated in October. "I just want
to get back in my home. It's been three months already."

Jankowski's family has owned the four-story, 105-year-old building since the
1960s.

Jankowski has filed a lawsuit against contractor J&F Quality Construction
and architect Robert Scarano, a well-known player in Brooklyn who designed
the luxury apartments being built.

Scarano, who self-certified the design plans, didn't return calls for
comment.

James Matusiak, attorney for J&F, said, "It's just an unfortunate accident,"
adding that his clients tried to "do the right thing" by offering apartments
to the Jankowskis, who declined.

"We want to speed this long as much as anyone," he said.

Lentol writes new law to protect neighbors from development damage!!

2006-01-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

This just in. According to Cathy Peake, the proposed legislation offers homeowners a quick claim from escrowed money if their property is damaged by adjacent development. AND prevents DoB from issuing violations to neighbors for damage caused by development construction.

Thanks for listening and acting for our community! Let's hope this passes the state legislature and soon.

Here's the press release from their office:

For Release Immediate
Contact person:
Catherine Peake 518-455-4477

Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol Introduces Bill
To protect Building Owners and Renters

January 25, 2006, Today, Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol introduced legislation designed to address a serious problem affecting long standing property owners whose property is damaged by contractors building on adjacent property in the City of New York. Assemblyman Lentol said, “I’ve personally witnessed too many examples now where my neighbors wind up spending lots of money and sometimes must leave their homes as well because developers and their contractors caused damage to their existing adjacent properties as the contractors erect new homes and apartments.”

Currently, if a developer or contractor is working on property adjacent to or near an existing parcel and damages the existing property, the owner of the existing damaged building is held liable for correcting any resulting violations to his/her property. Often the New York City Buildings Department, when called to intervene in such disputes, cites the property owner -- whose property was damaged by the contractor -- for Building Code violations despite the fact that the damage was entirely caused by the contractor operating under a permit issued by the Buildings Department. The innocent property owner often gets violations requiring the payment of fines and may have to vacate his/her property until the damage is corrected -- sometimes at great expense. The innocent owner will likely not recover damages. Instead, he/she expends large sums of money on legal fees incurred in a long, drawn out civil suit.

Lentol said, “The City Buildings Department, faced with the aforementioned situation, has created a true bureaucratic “Catch 22”. Often a property owner will witness bad construction practices by a contractor working next door and will report the situation to the Buildings Department. Upon responding to the complaint, the Buildings Department inspector may discover damage to the complainant’s building, caused by the negligent actions of the contractor. You would think the party that did the damage would be cited and fined by the Buildings Department. Such an assumption would be in error. The Buildings Department issues violations against the damaged property. This is not unlike a situation in which a car thief is reported to the police and the owner gets cited for running a red light while the vehicle is in the thief’s possession.”

Lentol continued, ”I am proposing a law to require every developer to pay into an escrow account which would be used for “quick claims” by injured parties, and would create a system of processing these quick claims to allow injured parties, property owners or tenants, to be made whole by negligent contractors in a timely manner. My bill would also prohibit the Buildings Department from issuing fines to property owners who have been victimized by the negligence of those working on adjacent properties.”

Lentol concluded, “The New York City Buildings Department has been unreasonable and inflexible in dealing with these incidents. They occur frequently in Brooklyn and in other locations where development is rampant. I am committed to see that the problem stops, which is why this bill is needed.”

So a developer bought the property next door, Part 2

2006-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Step 1
Find out what is going on.

If you can talk with the developer, that's good. Just remember that they will tell you what you want to hear. Expect to hear things like: we're such good guys, we're going to make your building even better, we are very careful, your property will improve, we will (plant flowers, fix your sidewalk, whatever). Remember that they may mean well, but often this is just words. Any reassurance they give you, you can ask them (politely, even) if they will give it to you in writing. Their reaction to this request will tell you a lot about how serious their promises are.

You can and should check with DoB, see link in the sidebar to the right. By entering their address, you can see what permits are applied for and if plans have been filed. To see what zoning allows them to build, go the site for the Department of City Planning.

Step 2
Tell people what is going on and get things in writing if possible. Here's a sample of a first letter to the developer. It gives notice that you are concerned about what will happen and offers them a chance to be responsible.

"Dear (insert their name or names here)

I understand that you are planning construction on the lot at (insert their address here) next to my building. I am concerned that this construction may have an effect on my building. I am particularly concerned to have assurance that you will continuously fulfill your obligation to provide lateral support.

Please consider this letter an ongoing request for information regarding your plans, procedures, contractors, boring logs and methods.

Let us move forward with respect for our legal rights. Please send this information to me at (insert your contact address here)."

Coming soon, how and when to check for progress on demolition permits, look at damage, and more.

“If you allow the character of a neighborhood to be eroded, the people who live in that neighborhood will leave the city.”

2006-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

A statement by City Planning Commission Chair Amanda M. Burden, the New York Times, October 10, 2005

This actually seems to be the intention of the ambitious and extensive new zoning recently passed for the Willliamsburg/Greenpoint area. As moderate-income residents leave or are forced out, richer ones take their place. Profits are made, property taxes rise forcing more long-time residents, both renters and homeowners, to leave and on it goes. Some development is a natural part of urban life but on the current scale, it amounts to urban renewal. It’s a scheme worthy of Robert Moses and it's just the beginning.

This community has been a victim of its own success helped along by hype, real estate interests and the fact that real estate is fueling our wasteful economy. Rarely has so much been built so quickly and with so little consideration of the consequences for the tender fabric of a community’s life. Developers are running amuck in our midst trying to get their projects done before the real estate bubble bursts. In fact, the rush is so great that there is little regard for the existing community.

In spite of the recent influx of new residents, the backbone of this neighborhood has for a long time been the working and middle class owners of the small buildings that give the area its character and charm. This includes the many artists who bought and fixed up dilapidated houses in the early eighties. These are the people responsible for Williamsburg/Greenpoint’s current desirability. These are the people who were left out when the rezoning deal was cut.

Most of the elected officials who supposedly represent us are congratulating themselves on how the rezoning with its affordable housing* provision is a model for the future. In the meantime, existing affordable housing in the form of small, often owner occupied buildings, is being allowed to be destroyed. Neighbors who have affordable housing are actually being evicted because of structural damage caused by careless construction. The letter of what little law exists to protect these residents and property owners isn’t being enforced. This is partly poor planning and partly what? Corruption? Ineptness? An overburdened Department of Buildings or all three? For a start, I believe that DOB has three or four building inspectors for the entire borough of Brooklyn. There is enough building going on in Greenpoint/Williamsburg alone to keep all of them busy day and night.

Developers openly scoff at regulations and there have been quite a few instances of intimidation. A developer told one neighbor that he was a fire marshal and if she gave him a hard time he would get her on a violation. A neighbor was physically threatened by a developer brandishing a metal pipe. Another neighbor was cited by a building inspector for damage that was done to her property by the developer’s construction crew working in the adjacent lot. Other small property owners have been fined thousands of dollars for violations in their houses after calling DOB to report illegal activity next door. It’s come to the point that people are afraid to call 311. This needs to change. It’s ironic that there are signs posted on local construction sites saying “To report site conditions endangering workers call 311”.

I’d like to know where are the transportation facilities, schools, medical services, etc. to serve the needs of the many new residents who are going to flock to the area and buy the new luxury condos? (Is there any other kind of building going on?) So much for city planning. I’m being pessimistic, but think ahead. Whose property will be condemned under eminent domain to build those schools, etc? A chilling thought. We already have a back door eminent domain going on. Damage a house while building a glass and concrete out-of-context condo building. Offer the homeowner whose damaged building has to be vacated a low offer. Voila, another lot! The businessmen who are building in our neighborhood aren’t even the Ratners. They build cheap and quick. I shudder to think of the problems those who buy the $500,000 apartments are going to face in 10 years.

This is the painful reality that some of us living in Bloomberg’s New York are facing. It doesn’t even matter if you own your own place. It starts with a closed firehouse and slower response time. A few houses belonging to working class owners burn. A developer has a new opportunity. People leave and are replaced with those richer than themselves. Maybe much richer. For what? What’s being built here could be what former Williamsburg resident Henry Miller likened to “following in the wake of a demented giant who had sown the earth with crazy dreams…a vast jumbled waste created by a pre-human or sub-human monster in a delirium of greed. It was something negative. Some not-ness of some kind or other. It was a bad dream.” TIME TO WAKE UP! I for one, want to stay in the community in which I have invested so much for so many years.

Jose Canusee 2006

*I’ll believe the affordable housing when I see it. There are too many ways for developers to get around the regulations but that’s a future story.

A reply from Assemblyman Lentol

2006-01-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

Assemblyman Lentol asked that I thank you for sending him the New
Williamsburg Blog information. He will make sure to follow information
posted. In the meantime, he is developing a legislative package that
will address some of the ongoing development issues -- of course one of
the most notorious is the tear-down, build up debacles. Angelica
Kofin, who works out of Mr. Lentol's Brooklyn District office, has
been assigned to follow all building, zoning, and development issues.

Again, thanks for sharing with Mr. Lentol information on this issue.

Sincerely,
Cathy Peake

Living through the madness: an article that says it well

2006-01-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

The DOB, overworked and understaffed, has time and time again responded to community complaints of dangerous work sites or improper work conditions in an untimely manner or not at all. Numerous 311 complaints to the DOB go overlooked—or, when an inspector does happen to make it out to a site, actions that are clearly illegal to community observations (no protection of adjoining properties, no protection of workers, work being done at night and on weekends without a special permit, work being done period without a permit) are somehow rubber-stamped “no problem found at time of inspection.”

Rezoning will not stop irresponsible development projects and illegal demolition and construction actions from continuing. The DOB must be held accountable in policing, and, when a developer/architect/contractor is in clear violation of the law, shutting down a job site and those responsible for it. Perhaps it is too rosy a world to imagine, but the DOB could work with community activists, utilizing us as neighborhood watchdogs and “adjunct staff.” After all, we are not anti-development, but pro-responsible building, which we assume DOB is as well.

For the past 10 months, Mic and I have felt as if we are living in a war zone. Like so many households in the area, we have experienced a non-stop barrage of demolition and excavation, backhoes and trucks, dust and debris, from sunup to sundown. We can tell the difference between the sound of a concrete mixer, a container truck or a backhoe coming up our street.

We are up-close and personal in experiencing the transformation, and potential destruction, of our neighborhood. As I write this essay, looking out my home office window at the muddy pit that once was a small frame house, I wonder what the future will bring. Certainly a four-story, eight-unit building of “luxury condos” in its place. But what will the building actually bring? How will my new neighbors interpret this “changed” neighborhood? Will they even notice that there’s been a change? Will they become Brooklynites like us and our neighbors?

There’s a saying that the long-time residents of our block like to use. Given our proximity to Green-Wood Cemetery across the street, when asked if they would sell their homes for a million dollars and move elsewhere, they reply, “The next move I make is from here [home] to there [across the street].”

As we move forward, beyond the rezoning and beyond the flurry of development, before the new zoning takes place, we and our community group will evolve from reaction to action. It is necessary for us, not just Mic and myself, but our community as a whole, to challenge our elected officials to work with us to ensure that this type of wholesale destruction of communities at the hands of a few developers does not continue. Not just in our and neighboring communities, but in all of Brooklyn. A clear message must be sent, from the top down: This house is not for sale. This neighborhood is not for sale.

Brooklyn is no longer for sale.

Brooklyn Rail, November 3, 2005

News flash

2006-01-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here's the flash: I just heard through the grapevine that Scarano has been indicted. I believe it has something to do with the 94 Diamond St, Greenpoint site, where the 2 adjoining neighbor homes collapsed. Interesting, yes? I'm shaking the tree to find out more. Please post if you hear anything.

We are collecting the addresses of buildings affected by next door demo, excavation or construction. We plan on going around next week with a camera and will be posting info soon.

In the meantime, just today someone I know got issued a violation for the crack in their side wall damaged by the demolition next door. So glad they have the engineer's report and lots of photos and video to support their side. But now they, the homeowners, have to fix it. To get the developer to take responsibility, here come the lawyers. How deep are the pockets of the individual homeowner? Enough to match the developers who can pay 7 figures for a building and lot just to knock it down? I doubt it. Ain't that something? There's something wrong with the system that puts a homeowner at fault for the developer's negligence.

The saga continues....

See Construction on a weekend or evening? CALL 311

2006-01-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

I took a walk thru the Southside this Sunday and besides noticing at least a half dozen new buildings popping up like mushrooms in a lawn after a rain, I spotted no less than 3 construction crews working, making noise and disturbing the peace. I thought there was no work after hours or on weekends! Did they have permits to disturb a quiet Sunday on a residential block? Or were they counting on DOB not coming out to enforce regulations?

One of the tools we have as a community is the ability to flood the system with complaints. If you see or hear a developer’s crew working after reasonable hours pick up the phone and call 311. Try to give the exact address, If you don’t have the exact address just give the block location. If you can, photograph or videotape the work. Dated photos would be even better. Then POST THOSE PHOTOS on THIS SITE so we have a visual record. Call DOB as well. LOG THOSE COMPLAINT CALLS. Otherwise, we have no proof of how extensive and disruptive this work is.

Save our Neighborhood Benefit Concert Saturday Jan14

2006-01-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

At Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue. North 10th Street near the BQE. 7:30-12:10pm $10 donation at the door. All proceeds to go towards legal fees in the Williamsburg Community's battle against the 22 story condo building going up on North 7th Street. Otherwise known as "The Finger Building". Read about it in the most recent issue of The Greenline.

Trend watching, use the web to keep an eye out

2006-01-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Everyday I hear of a new case of someone's home being threatened by careless development. This is unfortunately a trend in this neighborhood.

If you think a developer is buying or has bought a neighboring property, check it out with the ACRIS link at the right of this page. You can see if the property has been sold and to whom.

If you want to see whether any plans or permits are in the works at the Department of Buildings, go to the DOB link at the right of this page. When you get to the page for the address you are looking at, look at the bottom left section of the page under a gray bar. Where you see Jobs/Filings, you can click right on those words to see a list of what has been filed. Click on any underlined words or numbers to get more details. I go to this DOB site everyday to see what is pending on the lot next door. If you have any questions, call DOB or post us here.

We need all the help we can get

2006-01-11T08:20:00.002-08:00

Assemblyman Joe Lentol has been very concerned about development abuse. Call or contact his office.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=050
EMAIL ADDRESS
lentolj@ assembly.state.ny.us

Please post your experiences with pictures

2006-01-11T08:20:00.001-08:00

In order to make this site effective and to show the scope of the problem of development destruction we need to have a record of building damage. Please POST your experiences. PICTURES would be great. Fight Back.

Local press coverage

2006-01-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Greenline, a local paper, keeps a watchful eye on housing issues. They have had a number of stories about people displaced by irresponsible excavation next door. Check out the current Greenline for a real heart-wrenching story about 2 Greenpoint families.

So a developer bought the property next door, what do I do?!

2006-01-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

Once you know who the developer is, send them a certified letter stating something like: “I am the owner of (address) the property adjacent to the site you recently purchased. If you are planning to build on this site please know that I expect you to take care not to damage or harm my property in any way. You will be entirely responsible for any damages that occur. ….”
Do a videotape of every inch of your house, inside and out, to document the current condition.

Line up a structural engineer to walk through your building and submit a written report on the condition of your building, with careful attention to possible problem areas for you to watch.

Line up a good real estate lawyer, without ties to developers or situations that could lead to a conflict of interest.

Check with your insurance company to make sure your coverage is up to date for replacement cost (although the neighbor developer is supposed to be covered).

You can also send copies to the Buildings Department Commissioner (cc the letter) also send a copy to your lawyer if you can afford to have one.

Try contacting the Public Advocate (Betsy Gottbaum): http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/about/contacts.html
and writing to the state Attny General (Elliot Spitzer): http://www.oag.state.ny.us/contact.html

I really think contacting Gottbaum and Spitzer is a great idea. It's an election year for Spitzer, so go for it.