Bad Form: Unpacific on Pacific

It’s becoming positively de rigeur on Pacific Street to demolish old buildings, in whole or in part, under the guise of safety. First, there was Bruce Ratner’s backhoe incident at Number 620 and 622; now Number 402 is in the process of being torn down by owner Issa Moneer. Supposedly, Moneer received a big thumbs up from the DOB to destroy portions of the landmarked building but neighbors allege the contractor has been proceeding in an irresponsible manner: No masks, no netting, and no bracing of building to protect the public. In addition, they contend, the contractor has been parking on the sidewalk, failing to hose down the demolition work and being generally rude. In addition, there’s been a great deal of contention about whether the buildings actually posed a safety hazard in the first place and some fear it’s just a trojan horse to enable him to ultimately tear the whole building down. Yesterday, DOB issued a stop work order (#62906C0201DP) and Moneer was heard uttering as he walked off the site, “That’s alright, I’ll be back in an hour.” Sure enough, at 5 pm the stop work order was taken down and the “removal of stop work order” was posted on the building. Just minutes ago, a new crew of workers began assembling a scaffolding.
Brownstone Brouhaha [NY Daily News] GMAP