Open Thread Wednesday

By on May 9, 2023 11:24 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • eg310

    Does anyone happen to know why the scaffolding is going back up on the Bossert? That was a glorious 3 weeks without it, lol.

  • KBells40

    From CM Restler’s latest newsletter: “Something that might be top of mind for Brooklyn Heights residents: unfortunately, the Bossert scaffolding has returned after a crack in the building’s facade was discovered. Obviously, safety is the number one concern here but I have reached out to the Department of Buildings to ensure the work is done as swiftly as possible, and to get the scaffolding removed – again. This has been a frustrating blight on the community and my office will continue to prioritize addressing it.”

  • karateca2000

    Any news about Chama Mama? I was in Philadelphia a few weeks back and I tasted some Georgian dishes and they were fantastic. I can’t wait for this place to open.

  • Andrew Porter

    The Watchtower Building under construction on April 5th, 1942, in a Wurts Bros. photo. I guess, despite WW2 constraints, building went ahead because it was by this military service-refusing sect:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe6afced7704fbfb1945eb2172753d0b284609a8024c6b24b9d0756749b81c3d.png

  • Andrew Porter

    And the building, finished, on June 5th, 1950. Intersection of the just-built Promenade and the walk down from the foot of Pineapple Street:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b43466b94fa0817b59450efbcc0eb531c8323c08b73ff9622d9802161ff550f.png

  • MaggieO

    https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=2&vlcompdetlkey=0002950976
    there are no job filings for the masonry work that was required as per the LL11 inspection in 2020/2021. i find it hard to believe that this is a new crack…

  • Banet

    How can a single crack lead to all 3 sides being surrounded by sidewalk shed. Surely they only need to protect where they’re doing the work?

  • KBells40

    No idea; I’m just relaying what was included in the newsletter

  • Red Leader

    I don’t have an information but I’m looking forward to it opening as well. We’ve been to the one in Chelsea and it was amazing.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Because until the cause of the crack and the extent of the problem is known, it’s best to err on the side of caution. Do you really want to forgo safety for aesthetics?
    Personally, I’d rather see and walk under a sidewalk shed than get hit by a falling piece of masonry.

  • Cranberry Beret

    Agree with Arch.
    It’s a shame the owner appeared to do no restoration work the entire time the prior shed was up. They could’ve been done long ago. (Just like the hotel should’ve been open a long time ago if they had their act together)

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    I find Restler’s comment “I have reached out to the Department of Buildings to ensure the work is done as swiftly as possible, and to get the scaffolding removed”
    Laughable. The Buildings department has absolutely no control over how fast a project gets completed.

  • MaggieO

    In one sense they do, they are severely understaffed which slows down permitting and slow permitting slows work. That said, this particular problem rests SOLELY on the owner of the property who has done apparently nothing to resolve the conditions noted in the last facade report. sidewalk shed never should have come down.

  • MaggieO

    you might want to consider not walking under the sidewalk shed either! yikes… https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/5/1/23707471/bronx-nycha-falling-facade-citations-inaction

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Good point! However, permitting & inspections aren’t what make these jobs take a long time. Assessment of the problem, figuring out a solution and getting it remedied takes years, especially since more problems are usually uncovered as the work progresses… Also, the cost and financing, of a project like that, will easily get into the millions $$.
    Delays from the DOB might add a few weeks or months but in the scope of such a project that would be almost insignificant.

  • MaggieO

    to be sure. the $$$ is pretty much always the biggest slowdown because this work is never cheap, but where $$$ is no object DOB isn’t exactly known for its swift movement.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Also keep in mind, the DOB is often a convenient scapegoat .”We’re waiting on xyz from the DOB”
    when really it’s cashflow, or waiting for the architect to get back from their sabbatical or some other “problem”.

  • Red Leader

    Is it me or are there a lot more helicopter overhead? Seems like a lot of police helicopters hovering.

  • MaggieO

    having been the individual actually waiting on the DOB I can attest that there is plenty of waiting required when dealing with the DOB.

  • Cranberry Beret

    If you read the DOB reports linked in this thread, it’s not “a crack” (singular), despite what the Restler newsletter says. DOB found multiple cracks on 3 sides of the building.

  • Jorale-man

    Yesterday was really bad with the ospreys circling over the harbor for several hours. Biden was in town, so those were more understandable than the tourist choppers.

  • Jorale-man

    Speaking of noise, has anyone in the South Heights noticed the daily pep rally events coming from the Packer Institute lately? They have gatherings in their courtyard with loud music and even louder cheering that goes on for long stretches around midday. I don’t mean to be the grumpy old man (“get off my lawn you kids”) but this has become a real daily annoyance.

  • Sweeties

    Walked past 12 Middagh, today. They are digging deep, underneath that coach house/garage. “If you can’t build up, build down”!

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    No doubt the DOB can be a PITA to deal with, I am a construction professional, I know, I know…

  • Andrew Porter

    They’ve been digging out a basement under what had been a carriage house. Obviously can’t extend the footprint, nor build higher.

  • nomcebo manzini

    Even more, this “one size fits all” approach seems particularly mindless. Candidly, I’d want a careful look at the handful of “shed companies” in terms of their political contributions. Yes, the person who died because of falling debris some time last century was tragic, but even when human life is at stake, we usually draw the line when costs all but force us to. The sheds are an obvious favor to rat multiplication, and I’m sure there are several people who’ve died after a rat bite.

    Not every crack makes it likely that bricks will come popcorning out. Plus, we need something in the “code” that penalizes (hence incentivizes) owners to remediate, not just ugly up a lovely street for years at a stretch.

    Obviously, this is a “monopoly” card, and you have to figure that the existing owner will do nothing and sell “as is.”

    CM Restler had some good ideas when he was campaigning in connection with real estate – surely, more of a minus than a plus throughout his district. You would think the “liberal caucus” would propose some citizen-friendly legislation in this regard, but likely some of them have nasty “conflicts of interest.” (I doubt CM Restler is one of those, b.t.w.)

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Wow! that’s a lot of ignorance and assumption to unpack.
    Didn’t it occur to you that there aren’t more fatalities from falling masonry BECAUSE of the sidewalk sheds.

    Rats are attracted by food sources and burrow underground, not some above ground structure. True some sheds accumulate trash but there are already laws forbidding that, better enforcement is all that’s needed (vote in idiot mayors and reap you rewards).

    You are obviously not an engineer and clearly have no understanding of the physical characteristics of materials or building construction. Cracks can kill, it’s that simple. That is why so much effort and expense is dedicated to finding, fixing and preventing them and the underlying causes. But it is obviously a fruitless endeavor to attempt to educate you in matters.
    By your logic the tribune blades in aircraft engines shouldn’t be inspected for microscopic cracks, because it’s too costly. After all, the chances of failure are so remote, the last time it happened was in the last century…

  • BQE Driver

    Maybe they’ll have a second entrance from BQE

  • nomcebo manzini

    True, I am not an engineer. But your comparison to jet engine turbines is absurd. I did not/do not advocate “cross your fingers”/do nothing. Maggie’s comment about sheds is well taken. If there is a danger of a Florida- or Turkey-style event, a shed up for years with no remediation is like the City’s policy re the unhoused – an illusion that “There, we’ve taken care of that.”

    One sees 2000 year old structures, cracks & all, in many places sans sheds. I’m just saying that just as “surgery” is not always the best approach, sheds by themselves are not THE answer. We can do better than act “out of an excess of caution” all the time.

    As for the rat problem, you’re too smart & too cynical to be serious in saying, “We just need more enforcement.”

  • Effective Presenter

    A Brooklyn Heights brownstone owner made an attempt to create a duplex on the garden floor, a crew took shovels to the dirt floor bucket by bucket to a dumpster excavating at least 4 feet down. A new steel circle staircase, the space was finished the duplex created.

    Soon after heavy rain and not so heavy rain created flooding the new living space had been wrecked water came up from underneath to create a flood.

    NO remedy the owner sealed the duplex.

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