One of Brooklyn’s least favorite developers is living up to his rep when it comes to making improvements at the site of one of the largest fires in recent city history. Yesterday Joshua Guttman received another extension—this one until mid-April—in the criminal negligence case that was brought against him over the Greenpoint Terminal Market fire, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. Guttman, who faces 434 counts of Failure to Maintain Privately Owned Waterfront Property, is being given the stay so that he can bring the sprawling, burnt-out property up to code. The developer has applied for permits with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fix the many outstanding problems, but he has yet to make improvements to the site’s decrepit piers and bulkheads. Some local residents aren’t holding their breath. I would be surprised if we got to April and those things were done, said Evan Thies, environmental chair for Community Board 1. Simply saying ‘let’s wait five months’ is naïve. Naive, indeed. Why does the city keep cutting this guy slack?
Hearings Continue in Case of Greenpoint Terminal Market [Brooklyn Eagle]
Guttman Stiffs City, Lives to Build Another Day [Brownstoner]
Photo by Vidiot.