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The Bay Ridge Spite Wall & The Forest Of Death

September 1, 2011 Bay Ridge Bastards
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When we last posted about the Bay Ridge Spite Wall, the owner of the wall was fined $12,000.00, had begun to dismantle the upper portions of the wall, and covered everything with a blue tarp.  Thankfully, Hurricane Irene tore down that tarp so that Ronald Reagan can stop rolling in his grave.  (If you’re new to this discussion, you can learn the history of the Spite Wall here, or watch a Fox 5 news report of it here)

The scores of cinderblocks from the upper portions of the wall are now an unmortared wall facing the street — because even a grumpy old man who built things illegally on his neighbor’s property still likes to build forts –  Gatorade has been brought into this against their will and it raises the question about whether or not the Bay Ridge Spite Wall should be rebranded the Gatorade Spite Wall of Bay Ridge?  Plus, the evergreens planted along the sidewalk are now all dead, leaving the site to looks like a forest of death.

It stands as a sad visual of the horrible bureaucracy that is the City of New York, and it appears that only Harry Potter can save us now…

Bay Ridge Spite Wall Immediately Hazardous And Fined $12,000.00

May 10, 2011 Bay Ridge Bastards
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Yesterday we checked up on the illegal Bay Ridge Spite Wall and found that much more of it has come down.  Though a blue tarp is obstructing the view from the street, it looked as though the steel beams that were meant to support a second floor, as well as much of the rear portions of the wall have been removed.  

We counted another six layers of cinderblock having been removed from the right side. 

As if the spite wall coming down isn’t good enough, we spotted via the NYC Department of Building’s website that the owner of the spite wall (Robert Cunningham) has received a $12,000.00 fine for failing to provide an engineer’s report from a licensed engineer.  Sweet justice!!!

Lastly, the DOB has finally labeled the spite wall a “Class 1 – Immediately Hazardous”, which we suspect is the reason that the spite wall is finally, after years of legal wrangling, coming down.    Our only hope is that the Cunningham’s got struck by lightning and said lightning gave them some reasonable sense once again to the point that when the wall is fully removed, they will also fill in the foundation pit and once again plant a nice lawn and garden.

Dept Of Buildings Still Sans Balls In NYC

April 20, 2010 Bay Ridge Bastards / Trickle Down Ethics
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Over the past few weeks we’ve been receiving steady word that construction has been taking place at the long established illegal and unsafe construction site at 123 87th Street — located on the left and middle of the photo below. 

Despite there being three longstanding complete stop work orders issued by the NYC Department of Buildings and the fact that the construction is both illegally over the property line and out of zoning — as found by the New York State Supreme Court – or the fact that engineers have deemed the construction to have been unsafely attached to the neighboring foundation, construction activity has continued to go on at the address. 

People have been reporting the latest construction activity to 311 and we’ve both seen and heard the construction with our own eyes and ears about a week and a half ago (too many hired goons with tools that could easily be transformed into weapons lingering about to dare snap photos), but whenever the Department of Buildings has come around to check things out again and again, they weren’t able to find any signs of new illegal construction activity — they couldn’t even find what we’ve heard to be about a large 10′ x 18′ structure that has been built in the backyard.

When they have found construction activity going on at the site, despite there being a full stop work order, the Department of Buildings deemed the work legal, since it was merely the drilling of probes – go figure how drilling is within legal bounds of a full stop work order.

Given all of this illegal and unsafe construction, the best thing that the Department of Buildings has been able to do was to reattach a stop work order to the fence, which they did yesterday.

Our sources have informed us that this posted stop work order is at least the fourth one posted to the site, yet the homeowners and construction crew at 123 87th Street keep doing as they please, both removing the posted stop work orders and continueto get by doing as they please with the site – failing to safely remove illegal construction that is unsafely attached to a neighboring home.

For now, the neighborhood will continue to have to live with the obnoxious, illegal, unsafe and unsightly activities of the homeowners…

It simply amazes us how a supposedly civilized society cannot get any sort of results and all of this makes us wonder:

How long will the newest stop work order remain posted?

How much longer will it take for criminal charges to finally be leveled against the homeowners of 123 87th Street? 

What will it take for the Department of Buildings and the City of New York to finally grow some balls and force the owners of 123 87th Street to tear down the illegal construction in a safe manner?

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