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CONDEMNATION HASN'T HAPPENED »
May 23, 2006
If a wall falls in Brooklyn...
If a wall falls in Brooklyn and no one is injured, does it make a sound? Not in the world's largest media market.
"If it bleeds it leads" — the mainstream media wakes up when someone gets hurt but has little interest in scrutinizing Bruce Ratner, a real estate mogul who professes to be so concerned with safety that he exploited a loophole in NY State law that allows for emergency demolitions if a property poses a public safety threat, while at the same time flagrantly disregarding the public's safety at his construction and demolition sites.
Yesterday, NoLandGrab received a report that late in the day a new fence was being erected at the 461-463 Dean St. site, on which two brick townhouses stood, before the Ratner wrecking crew recently dismantled them, piece by piece.
Previously, the site was secured by a free-standing plywood wall that blew down on Sunday, collapsing onto the sidewalk. The wall was repaired, but blew down again, this time towards the site. Luckily, no one was hurt in either incident.
We hope the new fence is not another flimsy free-standing symbol of Ratner's broken promises to the community. Judging from the looks of this photo taken last night, the unfinished fence is... free standing and made of plywood.
And speaking of the community, thank you to all those who called the City to report the accident. The Department of Buildings logged the complaint (#3191408) and... did nothing.
Since Forest City Ratner's safety record has recently taken a hit, perhaps this incident will prompt Brooklyn's Development Czar to consider safety as a serious community concern, not just a loophole to facilitate demolition before the Environmental Review process has been completed, ...or not.
Posted by lumi at May 23, 2006 8:39 AM