Roundup: Entire City Falling Apart
The collapse of an East Side construction crane, killing at least four and injuring two dozen, is apparently raising questions at City Hall about the Buildings Department and buildings commissioner Patricia Lancaster, the Sun reported. The head-scratching is coming a bit late, though, given the extent to which things have been falling off of buildings, structures have been collapsing and towers set ablaze over at least the past couple of years. Gothamist did a nice roundup of building collapses, which we've expanded on after the jump:
March 12: "A construction worker digging a foundation in Brooklyn was killed on Wednesday when part of a wall from the building next door collapsed on him." [NYT via Sun] (Photo: NYT)
March 4: A vacant five-story building owned by Kushner Companies, owned in part byNew York Observer owner Jared Kushner, collapsed in Harlem. There were no reports of injuries but concerns about debris landing on tracks stalled train service to and from Grand Central Station. [NYT via Sun] (Photo: NYT)
January 14: A construction worker trying to pour concrete fell 42 stories to his death at Trump SoHo condominium project. [NYT via Gothamist] (Photo: Curbed)
December 14, 2007: Seven tons of steel fell from new Goldman Sachs building construction site in Battery Park City, paralyzing an architect. (via Gothamist) (Photo: Gothamist)
December 3, 2007: A pedestrian is injured when gusting wind pushed debris of the New York Times' new building. Another pedestrian is injured in a similar incident involving a nearby building.
October 17, 2007: A large steel bucket fell from the top of the future Bank of America tower, "crashing through the plywood roof of a sidewalk shed." Eight people were treated for minor injuries. The incident was the fourth case of falling debris at the site in less than two years. [NYT] (Photo: NYT)
- October 2007: "A piece of scaffolding fell from a high-rise on Madison Avenue at East 60th Street, damaging a United Parcel Service delivery truck." [NYT]
August 18, 2007: A construction worker's cigarette was blamed for a seven-alarm blaze at the old Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero, which was being prepared for demolition. Two firefighters are killed. [Gothamist via Gothamist] (Photo: Todd Myers)
September 29, 2006: At Toll Brothers' One Ten Third development, a crane dropped its rigging onto a cab, crushing the front of the vehicle. A family inside narrowly escapes injury. [Gothamist via Gothamist] (Photo: Gothamist)
