St. George's Demo Halted, But the Damage Is Done
When does demolition end and excavation begin? That’s the question we were asking ourselves as we passed by the remains of St. George’s Church in Vinegar Hill yesteday morning. On Tuesday, after three months of manual demolition, two stories of the brick structure at 203 York Street still stood. Yesterday morning? Nada, except for a…
When does demolition end and excavation begin? That’s the question we were asking ourselves as we passed by the remains of St. George’s Church in Vinegar Hill yesteday morning. On Tuesday, after three months of manual demolition, two stories of the brick structure at 203 York Street still stood. Yesterday morning? Nada, except for a small portion of a brick wall. How did so much get done in the last two days if the contractors were forbidden, because of the church’s proximity to the public school next door, from performing any mechanical demolition? Illegally, that’s how. The DOB caught wind of the church-wreckers’ shenanigans yesterday and went and slapped the project with a Stop Work Order and the general contractor, MRC Contracting, with six violations for performing mechanical demolition without a permit to do so. Unfortunately, this is just a cost of doing business for these types of people.
The Destruction of St. George’s Church Continues Apace [Brownstoner] GMAP
In Vinegar Hill, Another Church Biting the Dust [Brownstoner] P*Shark DOB
In almost any other place but NY, if someone violates a stop work order they go to jail. They also need to pull licenses when someone does this permanently. Fining doesn’t seem to work and selling the equipment is just another way of fining them…who do you think will buy the equipment back?
line them up and shoot them.
amen
And the demo equipment involved should be siezed by US Marshals and auctioned off.
We need to take a lesson from China and have the fines adjust to the wealth of the violator. Right now they don’t mean much to someone involved in a multi-million dollar project but they can ruin a small homeowner.
Entirely predictable behavior from anyone who would tear down a church, I’m afraid to say.