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August 8, 2007

A Rough 24 Hours in Brooklyn

316_5thave_0807.jpg
ppsdamage1.jpg
It's been a rough 24 hours. First, at around 9:30 last night, a wooden cornice fell off the front of 316 5th Avenue in Park Slope, luckily injuring no one. Then, the rainstorm hit the borough this morning in the pre-dawn hours, knocking over several trees in Prospect Park South. (Check out lots of pics on the Crazy Stable link.) And this just in: 18-20 Jackson Place has collapsed, leaving only a partial facade intact. No one was injured and the adjacent properties appear to be okay, according to an eyewitness account. The property was allowed to become derelict by the current owner. Can anyone send a pic of the collapse?
316 5th Avenue Catastophe [Bklyn King] GMAP
316 5th Avenue Aftermath [Bklyn King]
Large Piece of Building Falls [OTBKB]
Our Brooklyn Tornado [Crazy Stable]
Wednesday PM Storm Linkage [Curbed]]




Posted by Brownstoner at 1:54 PM | Comments (23)
Categories: Quality of Life

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Comments

um, yes, trees down in PPS... and 40+ homes affected along the border of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge.

Posted by: anon at August 8, 2007 2:06 PM

Large oak tree literally ripped from the roots outside a house on Argyle, between Beverley and Cortelyou in Flatbush. Street is closed. Approximatly four foot deep hole where tree came out of the ground.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 2:26 PM

Too bad, this means that lots of good cornices will be taken off historic buildings all over Brooklyn.

Posted by: Sam at August 8, 2007 2:37 PM

I was in Bay Ridge this morning, huge trees along 68th Street destroyed. This story describes damage:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/transportation/am-stor0809,0,5606496.story?coll=ny_home_ugc

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 2:38 PM

how do we send photos to brownstoner?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 2:43 PM

The more SUVs crushed by a tree the better. Maybe it's revenge.

Posted by: hmmm at August 8, 2007 2:58 PM

Send photos to brownstoner@brownstoner.com

Posted by: webster at August 8, 2007 3:18 PM

Yep, look up walking the sidewalks of Brooklyn. You never know when a cornice will fall on your head. In this case, though, the building was being gutted and they were adding a fourth floor. The cornice probably came loose during the construction. But on closer inspection of the sidewalk detritus, the wood looked pretty rotten.

Posted by: pegleg at August 8, 2007 3:40 PM

18-20 Jackson is a MESS! 3/4 of the building is gone. DOB has issued a vacate order on the adjacent property.

This WAS NOT due to last night's rain...long standing problem!

Posted by: ccgh at August 8, 2007 4:25 PM

Since the Q train was not running from Cortelyou and people were reporting that there was not F train either, I took the Express bus into NYC.
I didn't see any trees down on my walking on Cortelyou. Once on the bus as we got to Church Ave we passed a several block long swath of downed trees.
Most trees seem to have hit the sidewalk or street and missed the houses or parked cars. There was a huge tree that had brushed an apartment building on it's way down and took a few window air conditioners along with it as it fell.

Will have to do a walk around the area (one I actually manage to get home, subway may still not be running) and see if their is damage in Ditmas Park West.

Posted by: Cortelyou at August 8, 2007 5:13 PM

So sad about the trees. It was a tornado as it turns out, right? That's the news.

As for the buildings that are allowed to fall apart - seize them from the owners!! The city will take away a building when the owners don't pay their taxes, and do it so fast their head spins. But if you let it become dangerous to the public, it's like who cares. I'm always so disgusted at this. Make a section on brownstoner called "Hall of Shame" where we can list all the neglected buildings in Brooklyn.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 7:00 PM

The damage, not to houses but to trees and property in Prospect Park South, was huge, and the 70th Precinct as well as the city played favorites with those who are politically connected, clearing debris and trees from connected yards (as a "courtesy") at the expense of the general population, which fended for themselves with blocked sidewalks and broken tree limbs hanging 50 feet above. While I worried all day that loose limbs on a city tree in my yard might fall and injure some unsuspecting pedestrian or driver and couldn't get the police interested in even providing yellow caution tape to keep the area clear, my neighbor Ron Kleinhandler was the lucky beneficiary of at least 8 police officers blocking off our street and cutting a tree for him that posed no danger to anyone but filled his private yard. It makes me sick, and sad, to continue to support this neighborhood. Mr. Kleinhandler's other neighbor, without any police courtesy, shelled out more than a thousand dollars today to have one of his trees cut apart as a result of the tornado. I am angry. And I can't even imagine the frustration of others who can afford even fewer "courtesies."

Posted by: PPSer at August 8, 2007 8:27 PM

PPSer, you should write an Op-Ed piece and send it to the New York Daily News about that. Call em out!

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 9:31 PM

22 homes "vacated" in Sunset Park alone (ie. so bad folks ended up at the OEM station at PS. 314). Wha?

Posted by: ccgh at August 8, 2007 10:28 PM

oh, please Cortelyou - you live in NYC already

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 10:32 PM

The cornice that fell off the 5th Ave building was not just a fluke; they have been adding on an extra floor or two to the top of this dilapidated building, and I would bet a pile of money that the portion that fell was due to the recent work. I can't believe they don't have scaffolding up to cover the sidewalk.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2007 10:45 PM

Gravity is a harsh mistress.

Posted by: slick at August 9, 2007 1:25 AM

Who is Ron Kleinhandler?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 9, 2007 8:14 AM

Ron Kleinhandler, who lives in Prospect Park South, is the lucky beneficiary of extraordinary police involvement (at least 8 officers with the emergency unit, the 70th precinct and OEM) in cutting down a tree in his yard which posed no hazard to anyone while the police overtly and actively ignored much more serious damage and hazards elsewhere in the neighborhood, including torn up sidewalks, huge trees blocking sidewalks, and huge tree limbs hanging loosely high overhead, waiting for the next storm or wind. I guess it's not Mr. Kleinhandler's fault that he received such favored treatment. When I asked for police tape to cordon off a portion of the sidewalk next to my home so that pedestrians might avoid getting bonked on the head with those hanging tree limbs, I was told by the commanding officer at the scene, "we're doing a courtesy for this guy; you want caution tape, go to Home Depot." End of story.

Posted by: PPSer at August 9, 2007 9:50 AM

PPSer please do us all a favor and really support the neighborhood by leaving it. All you do on this board is complain about it, your neighbors, the pace of gentrification being too slow, the prices of real estate being too high given your perception of the neighborhood, etc.. I don't see how that is "supporting" the neighborhood at all. If you aren't happy here, leave.

Also it is very tacky and I think, quite wrong of you to put your neighbor's name on a public blog. I don't see you listing your full name on here. You have no idea why the police chose to remove that particular tree for that particular person - there may have been a safety reason you were not aware of. And perhaps it was because he spends his spare time or money supporting police and community projects and they decided to do him a favor. Why are you so bitter about it? It is your job to take care of the trees on your property. Someone else was helped as a courtesy - why does that upset you so much? I cleared up my trees and the city ones in front of my house. My neighbor was helped by the firemen because he is elderly, friendly and has lived in the neighborhood for a while so they felt sorry for him and did him a favor. I am happy for him and think it was nice of them - as did most of my other neighbors. I think you might not like this neighborhood because you don't fit in. We are generally a positive, supportive group of people.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 9, 2007 10:11 AM

I dunno, I'm with the other guy--who's Ron Kleinhandler and why did he merit this "courtesy" in an emergency situation over more pressing public safety hazards? If true, it's a valid story and a very good question, Anonymous 10:11. And "I think you might not like this neighborhood because you don't fit in" sounds like a line from "The Stepford Wives," frankly.

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at August 9, 2007 11:06 AM

Here's some coverage about the ongoing clean-up in Bay Ridge:

http://rightinbayridge.blogspot.com/2007/08/pulp-truth-day-after-yesterday-in-bay.html

Posted by: Right in Bay Ridge at August 9, 2007 11:10 AM

"And perhaps it was because he spends his spare time or money supporting police and community projects and they decided to do him a favor. Why are you so bitter about it?"

Because we all pay taxes and association dues. And because, naive me, I thought safety trumped favors. And I do know why the police took care of the tree on his property. Not because of safety issues, but as a "courtesy," as the commanding officer at the scene informed me. That same courtesy has not been extended to the family on Stratford between Albemarle and Beverley that can't get their car out of their driveway because of a fallen tree. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a degree of fairness and to emphasize safety. Then again, I'm not a Republican.

Posted by: PPSer at August 9, 2007 11:11 AM

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