121 and 123 Huron Street speak out about Magic’s mischief

May 10, 2007 by
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

121 Huron pile driver

Before heading out to the Brooklyn Blogfest (to represent the 17th Ward AKA Greenpoint), I read the following email from a tenant at 121 Huron…

Hi, Heather —

I live right behind the construction site, at 121 Huron Street. I think the woman you overheard talking with Larry is my landlord, Monika. At any rate, the broken glass is from the old ivy-covered brick wall that separates the backyards of two or three buildings on Huron (including ours) from the condos. Monika told me that the construction workers, in advance of knocking down the wall to build the south facade of the new building, have smashed all of its panes into our yard.

It may not be quite as bad as the 7 a.m. pile driver (I bounce in the tub while showering), but it’s certainly not very neighborly.

Hope to see you next week in court!

When I got home this evening, I got an earful from a tenant at 123 Huron:

I am so glad I found your site. Because I have not seen riots in the local streets over the maddening earthquakes that begin at 7 a.m., I had thought I might just be going crazy. Or perhaps that I was the only person on Huron Street that doesn’t have a dayjob and happens to be home. Is it just me or was the pile driver even louder this morning? I live at 123 Huron and I’m beginning to wonder if I should take the advice that I heard from a fireman yesterday – “wear a hardhat while sleeping”.

I greatly appreciate your coverage of this, and would happily join in any sort of protest or filing of a complaint. Apparently my whining to 311 does absolutely nothing.

There have you. Unlike the previous two peeps, I do not live adjacent to this site; I live down the block and across the street. Yet even I find the noise excessive. A number of tenants in my building work 2nd and 3rd shift— given that Greenpoint (still) is a working class neighborhood this is not unusual. If anything, it is the norm. Why is our right to comfortable enjoyment of our respective apartments less important than the rights of this developer— or the affluent clientele it seeks to attract?

Classist rhetoric aside, one person displaced by this project’s seeming disregard for public safety (and/or our mental health) is one too many. To recap:

  1. They poked a four square foot hole in 106 Green 2/13/07.
  2. They have scattered glass cherds all over 121 Huron’s backyard.
  3. They may or may not have damaged the residential property at 131 Huron Street.
  4. That pile driver is insanity-inducing. Whether or not one hold’s a “day job” is irrelevant; we have rights and they have been subordinated to this ‘project’. I call bullshit.

If this situation is left fester (by our goverment agencies/officials), the worst is yet to come. I only hope no one gets hurt.

Miss Heather

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