Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

When I took the photo at right of Pacific Street east of Fifth Avenue in December 2005, the low-rise buildings--garages and a warehouse--were intact, more or less. The building at right was soon demolished as part of an "emergency demolition." The building to its left was demolished in June 2006, as contractors admitted using a backhoe rather than hand tools for part of the work. Despite the contractors' denials, a judge found that the workers also used the backhoe adjacent to the four-story residential building at 624 Pacific Street. Now, as the photo below by Tracy Collins suggests, the remaining residents of the two residential buildings--plaintiffs in pending lawsuits-- are increasingly isolated as demolition continues around them.

Forest City Ratner's promises of safe practices at the Atlantic Yards site have suffered a setback. A contractor working for FCR has been assessed two $2000 fines for unsafe demolition of two Pacific Street buildings last June, as an administrative law judge (ALJ) has agreed that a backhoe, rather than hand demolition as promised, was deployed to demolish a wall adjacent to a residential structure. (Photo copyright David Gochfeld) For the demolition of 620 Pacific Street and 622 Pacific Street, the contractor had not applied for a mechanical demolition permit,which would not have been issued for 622 Pacific. At a hard-fought hearing on 3/12/07, a lawyer representing Forest City Ratner acknowledged that the backhoe was used on 620 Pacific, which was adjacent to unoccupied buildings, but said there was no proof the backhoe was used to demolish 622 Pacific, adjacent to the occupied apartment building at 624 Pacific. That lawyer, Jeffrey Braun , elicited testimony from a representati...