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It’s not unusual that a developer of a new building makes a street darker, but it’s usually by blocking light and views. In Greenwood Heights, though, one developer is doing it another way: By decapitating streetlights. This photo comes to us via the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, who are concerned that the developer of 620 7th Avenue, formerly known as the Minerva, got DOT to remove a streetlight at the corner of 23rd Street and 7th Avenue without any kind of community review or notification because he was worried it would shine too brightly into the windows of the new townhouses he has built right there (most of which have sold). Given the safety concerns alone, this certainly seems troubling on its surface. Hopefully there will be more details on the case forthcoming.


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  1. “fabrication”

    Read past posts on this blog. Undersized block walls. No steel stick framing. Uneven floors and walls (prior to installation of exterior sheathing/stucco). Wooden decking and wooden beams. Water issues in the rear yard and all 11 basements every time it rains.

    Complete an utter “fabrication” of the facts as to what “should be built” under common sense vs. the “minimum threshold” that the NYC DOB allows, make a fast buck, and get the hell outta Dodge.

    Eyesore to the community and compromises the view from Battle Hill to Liberty. Period.

    Anyone who feels these structures are contextual, are built well and belong at this location, in this community has “fabricated” this reality into a farcical dreamland.

    Gotta Bridge I can sell you if you want to bargain…

  2. “this story sounds like a total fabrication. let’s see some proof please.”

    Wine lover, here’s a photo of ‘before’.
    http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/114149251
    Now do you think it’s a fabrication?

    “ccgreenwoodheights has a very specific point of view on this whole development”

    I too have a specific POV on this project: I like it. In fact I’ve taken the time to correct, here on Brownstoner, what I felt were some misleading posts concerning this development in the past.

    However, in this case, whether or not the man had DOT approval, he is jeopardizing not only the community at large, but the same people who have bought his units. In some ways, it doesn’t even make sense unless a particular buyer decided he would only buy if the lamppost was removed. Stranger deals have been made in this town.

  3. ccgreenwoodheights has a very specific point of view on this whole development, but raises this issue in order to prompt interested people like us to ask questions of the DOT and other officials.

    It would be interesting to get the full story. Even the mail that ccgreenwood sent out on the topic, there was an indication that he was looking for confirmation on all of this. Encourage you to read it: http://wp.me/PLFAH-G

  4. Maybe they’ll install a nicer street lamp that really does manage to illuminate the street and sidewalk but not wash up onto the building

    What struck me is that apparently these houses have just about all sold. I thought everyone was saying they’d never sell, that they had water flowing through them.

    Also, this is NOT a dead-end street, is it? I thought it bends around the curve along the hill of the cemetery, no?

  5. Doesn’t that building have spectacular unobstructed views of the harbor / lower manhattan? my guess is that the illumination of a street lamp right outside the window completely washes out that amazing city lights view at night – which is what those peeps really paid for!!

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