Construction

Video and photographs showing dump trucks lining Pacific Street between 6th and Carlton Avenues were attached to incident reports submitted to this website this morning.  

The two videos, titled "5:45 am Atlantic Yards/FCR no flaggers + illegal idling," and the photographs show a line of trucks waiting underneath the 170 unit Newswalk building to enter one of the Barclays Center truck entrances at Pacific Street and 6th Avenue.  

The trucks are lining up on the wrong block of Pacific Street.  The video and photography illustrates an ongoing problem long brought to the attention of ESDC and FCRC.  If the protocols outlined in the Barclays Center Delivery Truck Rules and Requirements for the use of a flagger at Carlton Avenue and Pacific Street are not kept, the public Pacific Street between Carlton and 6th Avenues quickly becomes an extension of the construction site.  The goal of the use of a flagger in this location is to avoid trucks lining up on this block.  

The photograph may look like the one we ran yesterday, but it is from 7:30 this morning.  At the time it was taken there is no misting of the loading of the trucks, and the surface of the yard is clearly dry enough to produce dust.  Later this morning some degree of watering did begin to take place.

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An uncovered dump truck apparently transferring sifted dirt from block 1129 travelled down Pacific Street this morning.  Dump trucks are supposed to be inspected to ensure they are covered before they leave the work site.  

Dust from excavation and trucks in the railyard is visible in this photo submitted with an incident report today.  Dust suppression measures are supposed to be put in place in order to protect air quality for workers on the project and the community nearby.  The Amended Environmental Commitments Memo states:

FCRC shall require its contractors to implement dust suppression measures including the following:  

iii.  Watering unpaved surfaces, including haul roads and excavation faces.  All unpaved haul roads and excavation surfaces shall be continuously watered by watering trucks or constant misting, so that surfaces remain damp at all times when in use during construction.  Gravel cover shall be applied to unpaved surfaces which are regularly traveled."

The press continued coverage of local concerns about construction workers who violate parking regulations in the vicinity of Atlantic Yards following Erin Durkin's story in the Daily News Thursday.  Numerous complaints about illegal parking have been filed at this website by members of the community.  

The illegal parking is apparently enabled by selective enforcement of parking regulation law in the area by NYPD.  The illegal parking occurs in violation of posted parking regulations, in bus stops, no standing zones and on sidewalks.  For the community near the project the issue is important because the sidewalks in the area are less walkable and streets often cannot be cleaned.  

Plus, there is a perceived double standard.  While construction workers and city employees who live elsewhere openly park illegally, those who live in the community are given tickets for far less bold transgressions of parking regulation law.  

Here are links to news coverage of the story:

Liz Wagner's report on News 12 Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Neighbors Fuming Over Illegal Parking includes a reference to this website.

Monica Morales' report on WPIX11 Atlantic Yards Double Parking Double Standard identifies the car with both an iron worker local sticker and a funeral director placard.

Ti-Hua Chang's report on MYFOXNY Parking Violations Around Atlantic Yards Site includes an interview with Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives and with a construction worker who says he's glad parking regulations aren't enforced.

Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report has reported on the story twice:

Daily News follows up on "rampant" illegal parking around Atlantic Yardsconstruction zone;  AYR video shows NYPD placards on Sixth Avenue

Fox News, WPIX follow up, find illegal parking at site;  Atlantic Yards Watch shows Atlantic Avenue "lot" and "funeral director"; will AY District Service Cabinet address parking issue?

The following photos show the locations and strategies of Atlantic Yards construction workers who park illegally in the vicinity of the project.  All of these photos were taken between 1 pm and 2 pm on Thursday, July 7th.  

Construction workers apparently piggyback on the illegal parking of city employees in the area of the Barclays Center which happens to be virtually across the street from the 78th Precinct.  There is apparently little or no enforcement of parking regulations in the vicinity of the 78th Precinct by the NYPD.  A more complete description of the problem can be found here.

Is it a funeral director or an iron worker?  If it is a construction worker he or she has found an inventive way to get around parking regulations.  This car was parked in a no standing zone on 6th Avenue immediately adjacent to the Barclays Center site.

Today the Daily News story Illegal Parking Rampant Around Atlantic Yards Construction Zone in Brooklyn covers the long on-going problem of illegal construction worker parking in the vicinity of the project site.

Construction workers piggyback on the illegal parking of city employees associated with the NYPD 78th Precinct, FDNY 105 Ladder Company and HPD in the vicinity of the 78th Precinct.  This is possible due to the apparent selective parking regulation enforcement of the NYPD in the area around the precinct.  

Numerous 311 complaints from community members have been filed at this website about the issue.  The pattern of the dispositions of the 311 complaints seem to show the police not finding a problem at the time they go to the locations reported in the complaints.  In one case in which the disposition stated the police had corrected the problem, follow up from the filer showed the problem still in place.

Construction workers park illegally on sidewalks, in bus lanes and ignore parking regulations on Pacific Street, 6th Avenue, Dean Street and Atlantic Avenue.  An estimated 20 to 30 construction worker cars parked illegally in the immediate area daily during the work week.  Free parking for up to 40 construction worker cars is already provided inside the footprint by FCRC to construction workers on several locations on block 1129 and at the former location of the Carlton Avenue Bridge between blocks 1121 and 1120.

A month ago, Dean Street Block Association, 6th Avenue to Vanderbilt did a survey together with Transportation Alternatives of parking in the vicinity of the 78th Precinct primarily focused on precinct employees.  Of the 87 cars observed, all but four were parked illegally.  (Those three were legal placards used legally).  Of the other 83, 12 had some form of construction gear (a hard hat, goggles, a vest, etc) in the dashboard;  11 or so had a phony placard, and around 35 had nothing at all -- they were just illegally parked.  The remainder had placards, but were parked illegally (on the sidewalk, in fires zones, in front of hydrants, etc).

A Canadian truck carrying prefabricated Barclays Center seating blocked the Dean Street bicycle lane at Vanderbilt Avenue for over an hour last night. The truck was headed to block 1129 where the seating is stored before being installed in the arena.

According to the local resident who supplied the video above, he first encountered the truck in the location shown in the video around 6:00 pm.  The video was filmed over an hour later when he returned from dinner.  At both times the truck was idling and sitting in the same place in the bicycle lane.  

The truck was apparently violating NYC law.  Not only is Dean Street not a NYCDOT designated truck route, in NYC trucks are only allowed to idle for 3 minutes.  Blocking a bicycle lane is also not allowed.

The truck with Ontario license plates was associated with Active Transport Incorporated.  According to the company, which is located in Milton, Ontario, it ships Barclays Center seats from Canada where they are prefabricated to Brooklyn.   The company specializes in transporting large, difficult to move objects and equipment.

In a related story, the construction alert forwarded to the community yesterday by the ESDC states Hunt has now "demobilized" the access ramp at Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue.  It was opened earlier this year to accommodate trucks while the Pacific Street ramp was temporarily closed.  In the last construction alert Hunt detailed they would both remain open at the same time for an indeterminate period.

Illegal Atlantic Yards construction truck on Dean from tracy collins on Vimeo.

In the last week construction trucks have been sighted regularly on Dean Street between 6th and Vanderbilt Avenues.  A resident of Carlton Avenue from Dean to Pacific Streets also states trucks have lined up there early in the morning.

The trucks on Dean Street largely appear to be associated with Laquila, a contractor working on Barclays Center.  Many trucks are loaded with gravel and travel past Dean Playground, down Dean Street to Vanderbilt, turn left on Vanderbilt and left again into the former Pacific Street.  They may be delivering gravel to a site on block 1129 where the gravel is sifted and loaded back on trucks.

According to a driver interrupted mid-trip at the intersection of Dean Street and Carlton Avenue on Friday July 1st, no information has been provided to Laquila drivers about the routes to take from the arena block.

Three dump trucks from Barclays Center construction went through Dean Street from 6th to Carlton carrying gravel Saturday.  It occurred while we were setting up for our block party which is why the street in the videos below is so quiet otherwise.  

Video of two can be found here. One is a white truck with a sprayed label:  2A-605.  The second one is green and is Laquila #32.

http://vimeo.com/25691597

http://vimeo.com/25691664

A meeting held Thursday night to address the rodent problem in the vicinity of Atlantic Yards sponsored by Council Member Letitia James and the Dean Street Block Association, 6th Avenue to Vanderbilt drew between 60 and 70 residents.

Also attending were representatives from the NYC Departments of Health and Sanitation and the ESDC's Atlantic Yards Project Director Arana Hankin.

Although fliers for the meeting were focused in the area of Prospect Heights that is close to Atlantic Yards, residents from Fort Greene and Boerum Hill also attended and spoke of increased rodent problems in areas of their neighborhoods near the project.