Tragic Construction Accident at 639 6th Avenue
Developer David Angel wasn’t going to win any popularity contests in the South Slope and Greenwood Heights before last week’s tragic accident at his development site at 639 6th Avenue. Strike 1: After failing to get the foundation of the 6th Avenue building in place in time to be legally grandfathered under the old zoning…
Developer David Angel wasn’t going to win any popularity contests in the South Slope and Greenwood Heights before last week’s tragic accident at his development site at 639 6th Avenue. Strike 1: After failing to get the foundation of the 6th Avenue building in place in time to be legally grandfathered under the old zoning codes in 2005, Angel went whining to the BSA and was, shockingly, given a free pass under the “hardship” clause. Strike 2: In January of this year, when some tree branches from the adjacent Mayrose Park interfered with his building plans he adopted the “cut now, pay later” approach. Strike 3: After racking up 3 DOB violations, 7 ECB violations and 17 complaints, real disaster struck at 639 6th Avenue last Tuesday. Towards the end of the workday, a young Ecuadorian worker fell from the 6th-floor scaffolding as it was being dismantled. There’s no official word on whether he died but, according to one nearby resident, the other workers on the scene said it did not look like he was going to survive. Has anyone heard about his condition? Update: According to the 72nd Precinct, Rogelio Villanueva, a 25 year old from Port Chester, fell from the collapsed scaffolding and suffered a cut to the head and “severe” back and head injuries; he was taken to Lutheran Medical. The police report says he fell only from the second story—an assertion that conflicts with eyewitness accounts.
Preview of 639 6th Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Where Does a Tree Stand in Development Hierarchy? [Brownstoner]
BSA Makes a Mockery of Itself in Two Rulings [Brownstoner]
Mr. Angel has a newly (we think) formed construction company, in addition to his development LLCs.
His “current” architect is:
DAVID SHEIERMAN 212-968-7127
DJ ASSOCIATES ARCHITECT PC
32 BROADWAY SUITE #114, New York, NY 10004
The firm that pulled the original scaffolding permits was:
John C Hulme
212-233-3630
HH Bld.Consulting & Architecture
51 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013
It is worthy to note most of the filling use the RA’s professional certification privileges, ahem.
Still no work on the worker’s condition, alive or dead.
Hopefully DOB is looking into this since they now have all the info.
This is disgusting. I bet somebody has read these posts on here that knows Mr. Angel. I have met him a couple of times, but found him so swarmy that I didn’t both keeping his contact info. So if anybody on here actually has dealt with him please ask him to post on here about this incident. Is he acting as the GC? Who pulled the necessary permits for him?
Anon 7:49pm
Exactly!
November 2, 2006
MAYOR’S OFFICE, BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT AND OSHA ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF A
SCAFFOLD WORKER SAFETY TASK FORCE
“One fatality in our City is one too many,” said Commissioner Lancaster. “This Task Force will allow all of the stakeholders to put our heads together to address this critical issue. It’s important that we step forward and ensure that everyone in the industry – from the scaffold worker on the rig to his manager – understands all of the existing requirements and abides by them.”
“Falls are a leading cause of construction fatalities-we have been working with the public and private sectors to eliminate scaffold incidents,” said Richard Mendelson, Manhattan Area Director for the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “We look forward to working even more closely with City agencies, employers and workers-through both outreach and enforcement efforts-to end these tragic occurrences.”
the building itself looks extremely unattractive… doesn’t look as if the facade will hold up well at all…
it’s not cool looking or “euro”, just tacky and so out of place.
doesn’t suprise me to hear a worker was injured at that site… so many folks are working at sites in this area without even the basic OSHA rules being
followed.
Yep, methinks that it was the BOSS, not Rogeilo who was talking to the 72nd Pct.
I think our injured (dead?) worker was out cold and the GC obviously downplayed the fall. I have heard from witnesses that he fell from much higher up.
But, with all the heresay out there, who knows. My nose tells me this all stinks, regardless of the height.
Fall protection anyone? Netting or some sort of railings?
Rendering = sexy, european architectural style that I was looking forward to seeing in the neighborhood. (and also hoping would serve as a model and benchmark of creativity to other developers.)
Reality = Is this really the same architect that did the rendering? Hard to believe.
UPDATE:
Mr. B was correct, occurred 7/3, just not recorded until 7/4.
More to follow.
10:57 here – sorry, tom, did not mean that in the way you took it. The worker’s accident was not in any way “icing on the cake.” I sincerely apologize for perhaps trivializing his plight. That was not my intent, just the opposite. I hate to hear about these incidents, because they are avoidable, usually, and are usually a direct result of greed and negligence, which pisses me off no end, because it only accentuates that third world help is expendable and replaceable.