By: David MacGuire
A New York Post expose had led to action by New York City’s Department of Buildings.
Thanks to the Post’s reporting, the department has given a summons to the owners of 1627 Amsterdam Ave. In addition, a trio of other buildings that the Post had also reported on are said to be due for new inspections.
“In the wake of architect Erica Tishman’s death last Tuesday, when she was struck by a chunk from a crumbling facade, The Post launched a review of city records and found that thousands of buildings have been cited for unsafe exteriors, including some with open violations more than a decade old,” Post reporters Joseph Konig, Kevin Sheehan and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon noted (https://nypost.com/2019/12/23/nyc-hits-unsafe-building-with-summons-after-post-expose/).
“One, a seven-story mixed-use building on Amsterdam Avenue, already had a summons slapped on its window Monday morning — fewer than 24 hours after The Post published its story. Department officials said three other properties — 254 Seaman Ave. and 201 W. 145th St. in Manhattan, and 14-20 Boerum Street in Brooklyn — are scheduled for visits before the end of the week.”
“Another structure identified, a five-story Bronx building next to a daycare center on East 150th Street, was cited in 2008 for a collapsed rear retaining wall that blocked a rear entrance for years,” the Post reported. “Building owner Earl Bailey claimed Monday that the wall had been fixed but that paperwork confirming the repair had not yet been filed with the DOB. “The retaining wall has been fixed,” he told the Post. “There is a structural wall in the back. Before it was stone. We paid a lot of money to have it built.”
The greater than usual sense of urgency is no doubt the result of the tragic death of architect Erica L. Tishman, 60, who was struck by a piece of debris from a 17-story building near Seventh Avenue and 49th Street.
“By the time emergency responders arrived, minutes after being called at about 10:45 a.m., she was dead, the police said,” according to the New York Times. “While the authorities have not said what hit her, an inspection by the Department of Buildings after the accident found cracks in the building’s facade and terra cotta pieces missing.”
