New York Shitty Day Starter: What’s That Noise, Part II?

January 20, 2012 by
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic 

I suspect some of my fellow Greenpointers heard a repetitive and rather unpleasant sound last night. I know I did; I could hear it distinctly from my living room. This was of course a pile-driver going about its business at our local waste water treatment plant. A person we’ll call “K” writes:

Hi-

Last month you posted about the construction work happening at the Newtown Creek Treatment Plant, specifically the ridiculously loud pile driving going on at night. The pile driving was supposed to end on December 31st, and unfortunately, it has not. It’s not every night, but it’s still often enough and goes on long enough to be a huge annoyance.
I’ve filed multiple noise complaints and I actually got a call from someone from the plant today (go 311!). The gentleman I spoke with was very polite and apologetic, but he didn’t offer up a whole lot of info. He said the work was being down to replace… something… and that “from what he’s heard” it should be done in a couple of weeks. I asked if there was someone in charge of the project that I could contact and told me to call back in the morning and ask for James Roy. The number is 718-389-2002.
I’m sure there are many others in the neighborhood who are also going slightly insane over this so I thought it might be helpful to share this tidbit of information.
Keep up the good work!
Here’s some more information about what’s going on from the Environmental Chair of our local Community Board!
The DOB issued a variance permit that allows the pile driving every night until 930pm. (originally 1130pm). At the last NCMC meeting they (the job manager) estimated that it would be finished by end of Feb. It actually wasn’t supposed to end Dec 31st; They just receive 2 week permits, so when reading the first permit one might assume that the job is only 2 weeks but it isnt really. It is part of the construction of one of the new buildings– all part of the modernizing of the sewage treatment plant. They asked to do it at night because it is too dangerous to do the pile driving during daytime hours when the 400 person work crew is about.
Good times!

Comments

4 Comments on New York Shitty Day Starter: What’s That Noise, Part II?

  1. no no on Fri, 20th Jan 2012 10:24 am
  2. Is it too dangerous or just too annoying to the workers? When there were pile drivers going all day for weeks next door to me nobody was concerned about the dangers to the dozen people living in my 100 year old building. I wish that someone from the plant would elaborate more fully on the potential dangers within the plant to pile drive when employees are present. I can appreciate that the vibrations might possibly (or not) cause ruptures to pipes or fittings and the what have you, but I would like to hear that from an engineer.

  3. ryanthegirl on Fri, 20th Jan 2012 4:21 pm
  4. hey hey.

    So, according to the job manager, it is dangerous in this instance due to the large size of the pilings (100ft) and the copious amount of work going on during the day in the surrounding area. This is there story and they are sticking to it. They hope that work will proceed at a fast enough rate that they can commence pile driving during the day sooner, but they arent making any promises

    Believe me, the NCMC committee gave them hell. Laura Hoffman brought it up several times throughout the night since it could be heard throughout the meeting

  5. ryanthegirl on Fri, 20th Jan 2012 4:22 pm
  6. ack! their not there. sorry grammar police. multi-tasking mistake

  7. missheather on Fri, 20th Jan 2012 4:23 pm
  8. I can only imagine what went down at the NCMC meeting. I know Christine Holowacz was very unhappy when she got word about this and I have made it a point to make her (albeit via laura) aware of exactly how widespread the noise is. Thanks for the 411!

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