Stay of Execution on MacDonough Street
The second hearing about the future of 329 and 331 MacDonough Street, the two Stuyvesant Heights brownstones threatened with demolition after the collapse of a party wall last week, was held yesterday afternoon at 360 Adams Street. Here’s a report we received from a resident of the block: The Judge called in the lawyers and…
The second hearing about the future of 329 and 331 MacDonough Street, the two Stuyvesant Heights brownstones threatened with demolition after the collapse of a party wall last week, was held yesterday afternoon at 360 Adams Street. Here’s a report we received from a resident of the block:
The Judge called in the lawyers and engineers leaving the public in the hall to wonder what was happening. After an hour the public was allowed in and told that the engineers would have until Wednesday Jan. 27th to present a plan to save the properties. Mrs. Prince, the owner of 331 MacDonough St., has retained a lawyer and engineer in the hopes of saving her property. The Judge has told the public that he is aware of their concerns but, the issue will be resolved by the engineers and our presence in court on the 27th will not be necessary.
Meanwhile, we also contact the Landmarks Preservation Commission to get a better sense of their position and ability to act as advocates for preservation in this case. Here’s the response we got:
Members of our staff have visited the site, and are communicating extensively with the Department of Buildings about these important buildings. Under the Landmarks Law, no Landmarks approval is needed for measures the Department of Buildings must take to address public safety issues. We are advocating for saving as much of the buildings as is safely possible, while deferring to the Department’s engineering knowledge and experience in public safety matters. Landmarks and Buildings have a long history of working together to save historic buildings, and this case is no exception.
We’re also curious to hear how active a role (if any) Councilman Al Vann, who owns a house on the historic block, has taken in the situation. Can anyone tell us?
MacDonough Street Update 1/25/10 [Brownstoner]
Wall Collapse, Vacate Order, Maybe Demo on MacDonough [Brownstoner]
“benson- the only one demonizing is you.”
Oh really???
Shall we have a looksee……?
Tim Lynch is the forensic engineer who controls this situation. I have had personal experience with this little man with a very large ego. He will spend his time on site looking for someone to have arrested. He also encourages the regular DOB trolls to bury buildings in any and all violations to further justify knocking them down.
Posted by: modsquad at January 24, 2010 1:57 PM
I see. So Tim is in charge. His ego is much much bigger than his own self (he is not so little)
Posted by: brooklynexpediter at January 24, 2010 3:19 PM
Not to mention, but the DOB has been exposed for some of its shady practices. It isn’t like the DOB has a good reputation. Who’s to say, he didn’t want the buildings demolished, anticipating a developer would snap up the property and build there? For a fee, you understand? It’s happened.
Posted by: bxgrl at January 26, 2010 11:20 AM
The fact that a DOB flak rolls in and in a five minute “inspection” of the damage says “tear em down” does not make too many people believe that he is doing anything other than what is easiest to do – demolish.
benson- the only one demonizing is you. And a mechanical engineer and a structural engineer are two different things. Is structural engineering your area of expertise? If so, why don’t you offer your services to the DOB to back up or refute their engineer, instead of attacking those of us who want to save not just buildings, but homes.
Pig three;
To answer your question: I am a mechanical engineer.
The shrillness of the posts on this thread proves my point about what is going on here. Guvna’s post takes the cake. However, your trying to get an exact definition of imminent is not far behind. Anyone who has ever had to deal with this type of situation knows that an exact determination can never be made. It all has to do with the level of margin you want to apply – and in cases of safety that margin should rightfully be high.
You know what’s amazing to me about this site? Anytime there is a tear-down, or possible tear-down, of a building that the preservationist community deems “historic”, you can count on the demonization of those who might have an opposing point of view. Whether it is corrupt pastors in Bay Ridge, or incompetent DOB engineers, the list goes on! I guess that is the nature of blogs: more heat, less light.
Fsrq,
“negligent homeowner” ? The homeowner was using a “licensed contractor” , Architect, Engineer and had DOB permits. Now, we know this work was “beyond the scope” of the contractor. But here is my point. The DOB does not issue contractor licenses or home improvement licenses. The Dept. of consumer affairs does. The big problem there is the DCA does not regulate the work done by these people they license. Their main concern is payment into workman compensation insurance and workers who owe child support, then protecting the public form fraud. In that order.
Assumptions:
The owner is not will or capable to pay for the building to be fixed.
It will cost may hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix this situation.
Question to all ass umers: how much structural work have you done with your own hands?
There are many ways to fix this problem. We have not even come close to the end of new ways to buld, fix, engineer buildings. Old or new.
Minard- sorry but with so much at stake, the engineer could have spend more than 5 minutes, and not be so out of touch with the effects of his decision.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Even if the DOB wants to demolish the buildings, they would still have to shore up the support wall in order to have a “controlled” demolition. That is what structural engineers are saying. It is clear that these buildings can and should be saved. If you have to shore up the wall to demolish it OR to preserve the buildings, why are they pushing so hard for demolition? The DOB went in hard to cover their asses, probably thinking that these homeowners were too poor to protect themselves. Suddenly the DOB has gone down from saying they must demolish 4 BROWNSTONES to now 2 BROWNSTONES. They also brought in some shady scaffold company who put up unsafe scaffolding (it was wobbling on saturday!) that collapsed yesterday. So much for them being focused on safety.
No one knows the true extent of the damage and how much it will cost. It was brought to the attention of the DOB through the gas company when the neighbor called because she smelled gas. A wall needs only shift a few inches to collapse a gas pipe.
It won’t be $10,000 but I would bet (from someone who has had structural work done in a few places) that it will also not cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
With some steel and poured cement, it may wind up better than it was before.
also, please give the engineer from DOB a break, he is only doing his job. And it is a tough job. This was not his fault.
If it’s about dollars and cents.
Will it cost more to shore up the walls and repair the damage?
or
Tear down the house and build another one?