Not your routine stop work order

In the 12 years we've been at this (has it really been that long?) we've come across a number of SWOs posted on buildings. But the story behind this one at 64-00 Metropolitan Ave is like none ever profiled here before.

You can learn a new way to get an ECB violation every day around these parts.

And wait, there's more! The plot thickens...

There are a slew of complaints about this building, and they're interesting to read.

Roof collapse in Astoria

From PIX11:

Crews are on scene after a building partially collapsed in Queens early Wednesday.

Fire officials received a call shortly after 4 a.m. about a partial roof collapse at a mixed occupancy one-story building on 48-15 25th Ave. in Astoria.

Authorities arrived to find the marble business' roof and front exterior wall partially collapsed.

Council blows a lot of hot air over wind turbines

From Crains:

The City Council will consider a bill Monday to standardize wind-turbine installation on rooftops as part of a suite of green legislation wending its way through the chamber.

Currently, anyone who wants a turbine must apply for a special permit from the Department of Buildings, which is notorious for bureaucracy.

"As anyone who's dealt with [the department] knows, even the most garden-variety projects can often ensnare you in endless strands of red tape," Councilman Costa Constantinides, a Queens Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said in a speech earlier this year. "When you add cutting-edge technology on top of that, you're only complicating it further."

The legislation would standardize the process so property owners would know exactly what to do and inspectors would use the same set of criteria to judge every project. The idea is to help make the city more energy-efficient.

A complementary Constantinides bill would require officials to create a wind map showing where these devices would work best.

Solar panels tend to be more cost-effective small-scale power generators, but not all rooftops are conducive to their installation, creating an opportunity for wind.

Small wind turbines can be used to generate modest amounts of power as well as make a statement about renewable energy, but they are nowhere near the top of the list in terms of potential to make the city greener. Reducing power consumption of buildings, which account for nearly three-quarters of the city's greenhouse-gas emissions, provides the biggest payoff. Large-scale wind farms can also move the needle; the state's Energy Research and Development Authority is working on a plan for turbines off the coast of Long Island.

Cottage on roof has gotta go: DOB

From the NY Post:

Puchkoff, head of the real estate development firm DP Associates, converted the building from a warehouse into 14 luxury co-op apartments.

But when the Buildings Department inspector visited the rooftop last year, he determined that Puchkoff’s current certificate of occupancy does not allow the cabin or surrounding garden.

He was fined $1,200 and told to apply for a new certificate of occupancy.

A city administrative law judge tossed the fine in April, but then the Buildings Department had it reinstated on appeal in September.

So Puchkoff sued the agency to have his little slice of country comfort in the Big Apple declared legal.

His attorney, Richard Lobel, said the fine was based on a bogus complaint. He added that the DOB even signed off on the project twice, most recently in 1999.

I really wanted this to be legit because I think that's cool as hell, but there don't seem to be any permits issued for that structure.

Brooklyn roof collapse injures 6

From the Daily News:

Six construction workers were hurt, two seriously, when a load of cinderblocks sparked a partial collapse at a Brooklyn building Tuesday morning, officials said.

The half dozen hardhats suffered head, arm and chest injuries when the roof of the Crown Heights building gave out from under them about 9:45 a.m.

One construction worker suffered a compound fracture to his left leg and needed to be carried out of the building, a source said.

“A concentrated load of cinderblocks was placed on the roof level in a concentrated area and it was too much weight,” said FDNY Brooklyn Borough Commander Assistant Chief Dwayne Cartwright. “It collapsed into the basement.”

Dilapidated Jamaica home is raccoon heaven

"A seven year-old girl had to run for her life from a raccoon; but according to policy the raccoon has the right to stay. A woman reached out to CleanupJamaicaQueens after her child was almost attacked by a fierce looking raccoon on Sunday June 25th.

The woman is living next door to the raccoon dwelling. Her home is about six feet away separated by a short fence. The decade old abandoned property is located at 167-05 144 Avenue Jamaica Queens. And yes, she has reached out to the local leaders many times to clean up the site.

The woman, Ms. B said that she has seen: rats and lizards, but the raccoons appear to be the leader of the pack. She said, "I was sitting on my stoop, watching my daughter play in my yard; when a raccoon started walking towards her direction; she started screaming, crying and running." That is when I had to reach out to CleanupJamaicaQueens.

Well, I (Hazel) got to the scene around fourish; the Sunday afternoon was still bright. The raccoon was long gone home, but next door. I called 311 and reported the issue. The operator said, some one will come out to investigate, but the raccoon can stay if it does do not have rabies. He went on, "do you know if that raccoon has rabies?" I was so damn angry that I responded, "no I did not have time to investigate."

Photos were taken on 6/25/17. Location, 167-05 144th. Avenue Jamaica Queens.

And this is why the black communities remain a fourth world area in America. There is always a technicality NOT to resolve problems in black communities.

Borough President/Katz, please get off your ever promising ass. You are responsible for Jamaica; It is part of Queens.

Please have your henchwoman/Boranian call the appropriate agency. The raccoon house is surrounded by trees and bushes, where creatures run freely. The entire house is inhabitable and the neighbours are living in fear."

P. Hazel: Social Media Journalist for Justice.

Horrific construction accident in Astoria

From NBC:

A crane dropped a materials load into a renovation site in Queens on Tuesday afternoon, injuring three construction workers, including two critically, fire officials said.

Dozens of firefighters descended on a two-story brownstone on 28th Road, between 31st and 33rd streets, in Astoria just before 4 p.m.

"It was just a big explosion," said Astoria resident Marianna O'Neill. "It was loud and it was long."

A 37-year-old construction worker who managed to get out of the building on his own was transported to a hospital with serious injuries.

A 40-year-old construction worker was seen being pulled from the building on a stretcher shortly after 4 p.m. He or she appeared to be conscious but had critical injuries, officials said.

Around 5:30 p.m., firefighters were still working to free a 28-year-old construction worker who was trapped under "a few thousand pounds of construction materials in the basement of the building," FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a press conference, adding that the man's legs were under 1,200-pound beams.

Fire officials said that neither a crane nor a crane boom collapsed. They said a load of materials that had been placed on the roof of the building for renovation collapsed, falling all the way to the ground floor or basement. A large hole could be seen in the roof of the building.

The building is in the process of being converted from a two-family house to a three-family house, according to the Dept. of Buildings database.

Steinway Mansion has gotten a new roof

Courtesy of George the Atheist

Augustana Lutheran Church being transformed

The Augustana Lutheran Church on Ditmars Blvd at Hazen Street got a permit for a new roof. This is what the building looks like now.

Photos by George the Atheist

Owner of f*cked up Flushing house speaks

From the Queens Chronicle:

[Eddie] Peralta told the Queens Chronicle all is not as it seems.

He adamantly denied that he intends to enlarge the house.

As for why the siding and roof were removed, he said the previous owner put layer upon layer on without removing the first piece and he feared the roof was about to collapse, later showing pictures to a Chronicle reporter that apparently proved his claim. He is in the process of submitting those plans to the DOB now, he said, and intends on going back to work if those plans are approved.

Why no construction fence? He only needs one if new construction is occurring, something he denies is happening.

At least two people don’t buy Peralta’s story.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said the pictures he’s seen of the house show something more than “minor renovations” going on.

“If that’s the case,” Avella said of Peralta’s claim the roof came off for safety reasons, “then he has to reamend the permit and get a different one.”

Paul Graziano, an urban planner who has raised questions about the house, said the removal of the roof is “not a minor alteration.

“That is a major alteration,” the Flushing resident continued, adding he, too, believes that if the homeowner does not intend to enlarge, he should file different permits.

This one's not so wily

s From LIC Post:

A coyote has taken up residence in Long Island City and has been stuck on the roof of LIC Bar all day.

The tenants who live above LIC Bar discovered the wild animal this morning when they saw it from their back window, according to Brian Porter, the owner of the bar.

Porter said that they think the coyote entered via a broken window from the old Paragon Paint building and couldn’t get back inside the old building.

The mess on Metro

I must have passed this spot dozens of times in the last couple of years, but it wasn't until I was stuck in a line of cars navigating the slippery snow yesterday that I noticed that this house at 72-55 Metropolitan Ave in Middle Village was abandoned. So I looked it up on DOB's website:

I'm sure that the lack of permits since these violations were issued, along with all the snow we've had this year have served to worsen this disaster.

No permit at site of fatal roof collapse

From SI Live:

The construction company tasked with performing the demolition of the old Dana Ford Lincoln car dealership in Travis, where a worker was killed Friday after the ceiling collapsed, did not have a permit to operate on the premises, Buildings Department records show.

Port Richmond-based Formica Construction had obtained seven permits related to construction at the West Service Road site since last August, but none are currently valid, records show. The most recent permit expired on Aug. 15.

Officials at the buildings department could not be reached Saturday, but a complaint report on the agency's website states that, "Unpermitted interior demolition caused the mezzanine level to partially collapse to grade."

The buildings department placed the site under a full stop work order following Friday's fatal incident.

An environmentally friendly Kew Gardens Cinema

From DNA Info:

Kew Gardens Cinemas may be eight decades old, but the theater is at the forefront of the latest environmental trend.

The art deco indie flick venue, at 81-05 Lefferts Blvd., near Austin Street, is currently installing several solar panels on its rooftop.

The solar panels will cover about 6,000 square feet of the building's roof, owner Harvey Elgart said in an email Friday.

Energy produced by the panels will be used to power lights and movie projectors at the six-screen theater, according to its representative. It was not clear how many of the projectors would be powered by the panels.

Post-apocalyptic scene beneath the J train

Hi QC,

Talk about an eyesore (and maybe a lung sore)!

Have you seen what is left of a food factory distributor that burned about 2 years ago.

The burned out hulk remains untouched it seems since the fire. If you are on the Crescent Street platform of the J train you are right above it.

Anybody know what is planned for this? Why does the community have to see this and possibly be exposed to who knows what when the wind blows? When it rains, what toxins are leached and where?

Thanks for your coverage of local news.

Joe L

Joe, I don't know what the answer is. Usually, the FDNY/DOB orders the building to be demolished. I'm not sure why this one was left in this condition for so long. - QC

Resolution for collapsed building may be in the works

From the Forum:

After months of civic leaders pleading with the city to do something about a Woodhaven building that partially collapsed in April, sending a sea of bricks crashing onto Jamaica Avenue during a busy rush hour, an elected official said there could be a light at the end of the tunnel regarding the structure that has prompted numerous safety concerns and become what residents call a serious eyesore.

Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven) said this week that the property’s landlord, a group by the name of 78-19 Jamaica Ave. LLC, has hired an architect to look into fixing the crumbling building that stands in a bustling commercial corridor.

“It took a long time, but at least something is going to be done about it,” Miller said.

When the roof of the abandoned furniture store collapsed, it sent a storm of bricks into an area often packed with vehicles and pedestrians during rush hour. A car was badly damaged in the collapse, but no one was hurt.

The landlord, who could not be reached for comment, has reportedly recently paid thousands of dollars in fines owed to the city for a variety of violations, from a failure to maintain the building to conducting work without a permit, according to area elected officials and civic leaders. However, those payments have not been recorded on the city Department of Building’s website, which still states that there are 33 open DOB violations on the property, as well as eight open Environmental Control Board violations.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings said the DOB issued a criminal court summons for failure to maintain the building and failure to comply with the DOB commissioner’s order to file plans and commence work to repair the building by Nov. 29, 2013. While a judge in a criminal court case does not have the power to force a defendant to make repairs, there is incentive for the owner to comply with the summons – and make repairs – because it can lead to a better outcome for them.

Beware of developers that call themselves "Bad Ass"

From the Daily News:

A dozen first-time homeowners say a developer known as the Bad Ass Group steered them into purchasing shoddily-built homes that the city had not even cleared for permanent occupancy.

The group filed an $18 million class-action lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court Friday against at least six companies — including real estate agents, attorneys, an architect and a builder — that collectively did business as an umbrella entity called the Bad Ass Group.

“Our American Dream has been stolen,” said one homeowner, Johanny De La Cruz, during a rally in front of the courthouse Friday, after they filed the court papers that sought damages for a litany of alleged offenses including breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy, negligence and attorney malpractice.

The residents complained they were rushed into buying the properties, and began having problems with heat, black mold, sewage backups, plumbing, leaky roofs and faulty boilers almost as soon as they moved in.

Another homeowner, Martha Diaz, sounded a similar tune.

“When it rained, the water came inside of the house,” said Diaz, a mother of seven who purchased her two-family house for $618,0000 in 2006.

On top of that, the plaintiffs said, the developer never obtained permanent certificates of occupancy for the houses of horror, which put the homeowners on the line for thousands in fines from the city.

When homeowners complained, they said the Bad Ass Group referred them to lawyers they now believe were in cahoots with the schemers, who did nothing to resolve the approvals or stop the city fines from accruing, said Andre Ramon Soleil, the homeowners’ attorney.

The group is also suing the city, charging that the Department of Buildings was negligent in issuing temporary approvals before the properties were inspected — a policy that has since changed.

Stairs collapse, fire escape unstable, FDNY evacuates kids from roof

From Daily News

From CBS New York:

An early-morning rooftop party in the East Village ended Sunday morning after a stairwell collapsed, sending a man falling at least two stories.

More than 30 college-aged students at the party were trapped on the roof after the accident that occurred around 1 a.m., an FDNY spokesman said. Firefirghters used a ladder and cherry-picker basket to rescue them from the top of the seven-story building at 159 Second Ave., near East 10th Street.

“They also tried to get everyone off the fire escape, but the fire escape is not deemed to code,” a partygoer who lives in the building told WCBS 880′s Monica Miller reported. “So when they were actually trying to get people off, some of the rings were breaking. So that’s why they were bucketing people because there was literally no access in and out of that building, and the elevator wasn’t working either.”

The man who fell was admitted to Bellevue Hospital. He injured his leg and suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung, 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck reported. The man was apparently jumping up and down on the landing.

Arthur Ashe stadium to get a roof

From CBS New York:

After years of U.S. Open weather woes, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens is ready to serve up some major changes.

As CBS 2’s Tony Aiello reported Wednesday, engineers have finally figured out how to mount a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium – the main venue for the U.S. Open. It is considered an overhead smash against Mother Nature.

For the last five years, rain has pushed the U.S. Open final from Sunday to Monday.

“The players are very upset about the finals’ being postponed to Monday. They have Davis Cup the next week — that’s interfered there. The fans are unhappy,” said Dan Kaplan of SportsBusinessDaily.com.

The obvious solution is to design and build a retractable roof over center court, but as recently as last summer the United States Tennis Association said putting a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium was an engineering impossibility and couldn’t be done.

The USTA said the stadium was built on swampland and could sink under the weight of a roof. But Kaplan said the organization has figured out a fix.

“What they’re planning to do is rip out a lot of the very heavy seating in the upper decks,” he said. “That will reduce the weight.

Since they can put a roof on it, why not make it permanent so that the community doesn't have to deal with the noise from re-routed planes?

BSA shoots down parking plan!

From the Times Ledger:

The city has shot down a grocer’s plan to put a parking lot on the roof of his store in parking-starved downtown Flushing.

The owners of New York Mart, at the corner of Bowne Street and Roosevelt Avenue, sought permission from the city to turn their roof into a lot that would hold 49 cars. But the city Board of Standards and Appeals recently denied the request, TimesLedger Newspapers learned.

The BSA confirmed that the application had been denied, but has not yet written a report detailing the reasons for turning down the application, known as a special permit. Palatnik said his client is considering all options in the wake of the decision. One of those options would be to appeal the BSA’s ruling, according to board policy.

In October, the owners presented plans to CB 7, which voted to approve the application on several conditions.

The application was then approved by Borough President Helen Marshall before moving on to the BSA.