Another Fatal Crane Collapse in Manhattan
Not Brooklyn, but too big and tragic to ignore: A crane collapse on the Upper East Side this morning has left at least two people dead. (Update: As of 2 p.m. Bloomberg is now saying four dead.) The accident happened at the Azure condo construction site on 91st Street near 1st Avenue. We’ve already had…
Not Brooklyn, but too big and tragic to ignore: A crane collapse on the Upper East Side this morning has left at least two people dead. (Update: As of 2 p.m. Bloomberg is now saying four dead.) The accident happened at the Azure condo construction site on 91st Street near 1st Avenue. We’ve already had the head of one DOB chief over a fatal crane accident. How much more evidence do we need, and how many more lives need to be lost, before we call the entire system broken?
Crane Collapse Kills 2 On Upper East Side Of Manhattan [Fox]
Photo from Fox.
It is time for that little creep to stop down.
I don’t think he/she will have much success in getting through to the Mayor’s office today!
1:26pm
Who knows. Call the Mayor’s office.
Why ever did they come up with this plan? what possible justification is there for it? Saving money?
DOB needs to put an immediate end to its “self certification” program that permits developers to do their own compliance checking, not only with regard to on-site safety but architectural plans as well. It makes about as much sense as allowing defendants in criminal cases to try themselves.
We’ve got cranes falling in Manhattan, balconies falling off buildings in Bay Ridge and thousands and thousands of non-compliant (but “legal”) driveways all over this city thanks to the self-certification program.
Just this past Sunday the New York Post reported that the Buildings Department reviewed 870 “self-certified” plans and issued objections against 730 of them. Eighty percent! I mean, c’mon.
If DOB lacks the resources to do its job then raise the friggin permit fees so it can hire more inspectors.
according to the article, the City just ended it’s onsite inspectors this week in favor of spot checking. And yes- there is a instinct to “find someone guilty” but it is also a need. But to say increasing City oversight is the problem is just not a reasonable answer.
With the previous crane accident, several errors in the mounting of the crane were found, and I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) that they did not get proper permits for several procedures.
The DOB is stretched too thin. the planning board is allowing anything and everything. Frankly if a mud ant came with a plan to build a nest in central Park, I think they’d ok it- as long as it was for luxury insect housing. And once a company is found remiss, they get fined, but other than that, what?
Urban foundation, when constructing the Brooklyn Law Dormitory pulled a lot of fast ones, endangering the older surrounding buildings and tenants, and collapsing a building next to the site. they planned on anchoring the dormitory by putting the fastenings (can’t remember the proper term) beneath the other properties- which they had not gotten permission for. They were digging beneath one of the walls of the building- a garage- they collapsed. The cars has to be crushed and removed by crane so the entire area was contaminated by gallons of gasoline from the crushed tanks. they did days of pile driving until cracks appeared on surrounding buildings and they were ordered to stop and use a different means of putting the piles into the ground by literally screwing them in. It was more expensive but they wanted to cut corners. In the ned the dorm is up, but the stupidity and greed of Urban Foundation cost the college millions in delays and work stoppages.
And if the tenants of the buildings around the site hadn’t gotten together and screamed, none of the stoppages and fees would have happened. Of course there would have been a few more collapsed buildings and dead people, but thinking City oversight is the problem is totally backwards. It’s lack of oversight.
11:29..The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!!
To hell with the DOB, let’s get the Mayor to step down.
You can go through a whole gaggle of Commissioners, but there’s only one bossman.
And only 24 hours after his announcement of no longer requiring controlled inspections during crane jumps and reconfigurations.
You go Mike!
(really, get out of town)
It is understandable that the instinct now is to find someone guilty, someone who is “cutting cornersâ€, “trying to get away with the proceduresâ€, “pushing the schedules†and so on. But before you point the accusing finger, try – for a minute – to be reasonable and think logically. It appears that the more the city is tightening the screws the more tragedies happen. Do you think 5 or 10 years ago people were not cutting corners and were not pushing the schedules?! Of course they were – not less than today, and the City rules were not nearly as severe as today with all the ‘jumps†and inspections and stop work orders. And yet, this sort of causalities did not happen in such frequency. Apparently, unlike the Surge in Iraq, more inspectors out on sites don’t seem the successful strategy. On the contrary, it seems getting less and less safe. I think it has something to do with the general atmosphere of fear spread in the city BECAUSE of the hardening and tightening and menacing that a single phone call to the city from the angry maniac – neighbor complaining on you, duly or unduly, will stop your work regardless and instantly, with 200 workers out without the possibility to resume anytime soon with tremendous loss of money and so on. This atmosphere of fear when none wants to take any responsibility is not a good condition for getting the construction sites safer.