With these pics from last night, there’s not much to say (and it seems like there will be pretty much the same story tonight). We just went to the East River Ferry dock in Greenpoint to check out the skyline. As you know, usually there’s a halo of light over the city, but now it just stops around 34th Street.
The rest is a void. Read More
PR maven Ronn Torossian, who was evacuated from his offices at 888 Seventh Avenue, has been passing around an op-ed to outlets across the city, Gothamist among them. He blames Extell Development for failing to maintain its now-crushed crane at One57, accuses the firm of negligence and mismanagement and endangering the people and economy of the city. “A thorn and open question remains the 90-story residential tower, One57,” Mr. Torossian writes, in his piece titled “Shame on Extell Development and Gary Barnett.”
“The city of New York should demand that Extell and Barnett pay back the city, residents and businesses back for the millions it will cost because of their negligence,” he concludes.
Extell released the following statement to The Observer taking Mr. Torossian to task for trying to capitalize on this misfortune. Read More
Update 10/31:The City Planning Commission announced last night that today’s meeting has been cancelled.
The mayor may be sending city employees to work today, as he did yesterday. “We are here to serve the public,” the mayor said. Those workers will be helping with recovery efforts in any way they can—planners planning escape routes, perhaps, or preservationists thinking of ways to protect buildings—but there will be no business as usual.
As a result, there is no plan to hold the near-weekly Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting today, as though anyone could get to the Municipal Building in flooded Lower Manhattan with all the bridges closed and subways flooded. Still, if you are a die-hard NIMBY and were thinking about going, don’t bother. The City Planning Commission canceled its Monday meeting but hopes to combine it with its regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting tomorrow. Read More
Special correspondent Ian Lamb tried to pitch in at Bellevue, but not being a doctor or a generator mechanic, he was turned away. Here is his report from the Middle to Lower East Side of Manhattan this afternoon.
There’s no power anywhere on the East Side until 42nd street. Drivers were surprisingly civil but it weirds me out. Every few blocks there’s a crowd of people who have found cell service; otherwise there is none. It’s all very 28 Days Later.
The whole of lower/downtown/LES manhattan was really creepy this morning. The weirdest thing was driving without any traffic lights or traffic cops. Everyone was being very respectful though, everyone stopped at every intersection. No animosity between pedestrians and drivers, for once. I think everyone was just in shock, though, because by the time I was driving out of Manhattan, everyone was back to being assholes. Read More
At least Superstorm Sandy hasn’t ruined Halloween. At least not totally. During his evening press briefing, Mayor Bloomberg said Halloween would go on tomorrow, perhaps a little spookier than usual, but celebration was encouraged, if ever so cautiously.
“As you know, tomorrow is Halloween,” the mayor said. “Most streets in the city should be safe tomorrow, but some may not be, so we encourage children and adults to enjoy Halloween, but use good judgment and be careful, particularly in those areas where there aren’t any lights. Hold onto your children’s hands, because cars might not see them.” Read More
Superstorm Sandy has been full of dramatic events, from the fire in Breezy Point to the flooding of all those tunnels, the explosion of the Con Edison plant, submersion of the Rockaways… it has been a terrifying 24 hours. But perhaps no moment typified the New York-iness of this storm quite like the crane accident at One57. Where but here would you find a death-defying incident 1,000 feet in the air involving a home for the world’s billionaires?
With that in mind, many New Yorkers have been wondering just what the fate of the crane boom that has been hanging precariously for more than a day would be. According to the Department of Buildings, inspections reveal that the crane should be safe for now, but given the difficult conditions from the storm, it has been very difficult to inspect the damage directly.
“Our engineers have been on the scene all day now with the crane,” Tony Sclafani, the DOB spokesman, said in a phone interview. “Up until this point, they have not been able to access the building due to high winds. But last night, two inspectors made their way up to the 70th floor, floor by floor, step by step, to make sure all the connections to the crane were secure. They were accompanied by firefighters along the way.” Read More
We already know Mayor Bloomberg favors waterfront development, come hell or high water—literally—and so, too, does his former development czar Dan Doctoroff, now head of Bloomberg LP.
It was Mr. Doctoroff, in his capacity as deputy mayor for economic development, who thought up many of the schemes that have led to new apartment towers on the waterfront in Williamsburg and Hunters Point. Thousands of units have been built, tens of thousands have been planned. Mr. Doctoroff still believes that is a good idea, so long as appropriate measures are taken.
“I am obviously a believer in waterfront development,” Mr. Doctoroff said Read More
Most of the Dumbo neighborhood, nestled between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in Brooklyn, is situated in low-lying areas. Its primary artery is Main Street, where shops and restaurants sit at the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The majority of this area is located in evacuation Zone A, so while most residents had already left their buildings by the time the devastating hurricane hit last night, most of the businesses and apartments located in these low-lying areas flooded pretty badly. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg just announced at his morning press briefing, which is still ongoing, that at least 10 New Yorkers have died as a result of Hurricane Sandy. “There are 10 in the city, and we expect that to go up as more information comes in,” the mayor said.”I want to extend my condolences to their families and ask all New Yorkers to keep them in their thoughts and prayers.”
The mayor said that despite problems at numerous hospitals in the city last night, none recorded any fatalities. He also said there are roughly 6,100 people in city shelters. The top priority, the mayor said, is getting the MTA back up and running as well as power.
“We expected an unprecedented storm in New York City, and that’s what we got,” the mayor said. “While the storm has passed, it is still dangerous out there.” Read More
Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said the crushed crane hanging off the side of the billionaire-beloved One57 could have been an act of God for all anyone knew, but there would be no securing it until the storm passed. In other words, pray for Midtown.
It appears to have worked, because the crane boom remains intact, as photos coming in from the press agencies and on social media show. Eric Trump even tweeted a photo from his office on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, two blocks away. Read More
