South Slope Constuction Mess Gets More Attention

Our favorite South Slope development horror, at 15th Street and Eighth Avenue, continues to draw coverage. This weekend NY1 has been running a segment on the horror and the neighbor's use of 311 calls and videos to document the problems. NY1 reports:

Some Park Slope residents say a home video best tells the story: construction crews from the lot next door, dumping dirt and soil onto their property.

The crews are trying to fill holes they, themselves, made -- as they attempted to build the foundation of the five-story apartment building that will eventually stand there.

“What's happening is because we've never had, there's never been any shoring involved, our backyards are sinking,” explained resident Tim Pietrzak.

Residents say their backyard is sinking because crews are using pile drivers to get below ground. The soil is destabilized, and eventually falls into large sink holes -- threatening the foundations of nearby homes.

Trees, telephone poles and sheds have already sunk.

And residents say when crews realize they have created a hole, they simply use a bucket crane to fill it back up.

“When they're dumping the dirt over, they're knocking the poles over,” added Pietrzak. “They're disconnecting the cable lines.”

Nearly every day, vibrations ring through the string of six homes, causing structural damage and cracks to a nearby church. Boris Gilzon's backyard was split nearly in half.

“I came home from work Friday and I saw cracks, I saw two huge cracks, one is about ten feet from the property line to the construction site, and the other one is much closer to my house,” said Gilzon.

Since the project began about two years ago, residents have logged nearly 70 calls with 311 and the Department of Buildings. Building Inspectors have visited the site and issued nearly $15,000 in unpaid fines, yet somehow, the work continues.

NY1 has reached out to the contractor, Jack LoCiciero, but so far has heard no response.

But the Department of Buildings said in a statement that it "understands the residents' concerns and is monitoring this property closely. We have been proactively inspecting the site in addition to responding to the residents' complaints, and we will continue to do so. The department will not tolerate disregard of the law.”

It continues.

Related Posts:
Honey, We Have Friends in the Backyard
Meet Your Department of Buildings. Or Not.
South Slope Development Still Doing Crack