More Shenanigans at 339 Greene Avenue
339 Greene Avenue has been a mess since the get-go. Joseph Tyrnauer of WT Construction is proceeding with plans to build a 12-story, 125-foot-high tower on the site, an effort that neighbors and politicians tried unsuccessfully to derail last summer at around this time. By that point, with construction not even having begun, the contractors…
339 Greene Avenue has been a mess since the get-go. Joseph Tyrnauer of WT Construction is proceeding with plans to build a 12-story, 125-foot-high tower on the site, an effort that neighbors and politicians tried unsuccessfully to derail last summer at around this time. By that point, with construction not even having begun, the contractors had racked up 51 complaints; now that number is up to 131. Around that time, the demolition contractors (those charmers at MMG) were, in typical fashion, running roughshod over the site. Here’s the eyewitness account we ran at the time:
The demo has been extremely unsafe and unprofessional. MMG’s workers don’t wear hardhats and we’ve watched the backhoe operator drink beer at lunch and then get back behind the wheel. I called and spoke with MMG’s owner Marie Grasso one day when I looked out our back window and they had workmen 20 feet up on the wall above our yard, prying off cinder blocks off directly above the head of my 2-year-old son who was playing in the yard and my wife who was hanging the laundry. This is without any kind of protective fence or netting. When I called MMG, I was told that what I just saw did not happen and that if any damage happens to my house during their demo, it is my fault not theirs. This week they dropped a steel I-beam that made our entire block shake like an earth quake, at which point MMG told us, “that’s how it’s done.”
Based on this conduct, the community was able to stop the wall demolition—for a while. The developer ultimately petitioned to remove a few feet from the top of the wall and was granted permission based upon the observance of certain safety measures like netting. As of Wednesday, according to an eyewitness who emailed us, workers were perched on top of the walls with a jackhammer. And guess what? No netting or other protective measure. Neighbors called 311 but as of the end of the day yesterday, no punitive measures had been taken by DOB.
Development Watch: 339 Greene Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Greene Ave Development Rally Attracts Pols [Brownstoner] DOB
Pillaging Clifton Place MMG-Style [Brownstoner]
Maybe it’s a requirement to be an a**hole to work in construction or as a contractor these days. One doesn’t find many with a good work ethic or values. All this bad behavior on these workers’ part can simply be chalked up to laziness. Too lazy to talk to the neighbors they are disturbing, too lazy to follow laws and regulations.
i just got home and found a pile of bricks and debris tossed into my backyard from this. Filed another ’emergency’ complaint. If I was around to videotape, i would, but most of this stuff seems to happen when we’re at work.
We moved into this neighborhood only a couple months ago, and we knew there would be construction over there. We accept the noise, and everything else that goes along with constructing a big apartment building. What we didn’t expect was the total lack of common courtesy. Maybe mention to me that i should move the grill? Maybe come knock on the door and say, “hey we gotta make a bit of a mess, but we’ll be over to pick up after ourselves tomorrow?” The feisty part of me wants to go out there and toss everything they threw in my yard back in theirs, but the adult in me keeps that urge in check… ugh.
Also, have you people (neighbors I mean) been videotaping? You really should. And taping your conversations, if they’re basically verbally threatening your property..
Exactly right, 1:26. Call the media. Don’t bother with the DOB. Also take video of this stuff and post it on Youtube.
Have you thought about calling NY1 or News Channel 12 Brooklyn? A little bit of bad TV press might get DOB or, better yet, City Hall interested.
What a nightmare…