The return of construction to the neighborhood?

Am I the only one boggled by the status of street construction in the neighborhood? All this time I thought it was NOT essential, and then wondered why I saw occasional small crews. When the updates continued to come in from the Department of Design and Construction’s community liaisons saying that work was indeed scheduled, I then wondered why the crews weren’t bigger and the big street sites (Warren, Worth, Vestry, Bogardus — plus a Chambers Street bonus!) seemed quiet. (All these pics, for instance, were taken on Monday.)

Now I have the official word from the DDC — “They are deemed essential and are continuing,” according to a press representative — yet I am just as confused since there is not a lot of action out there:
Many of the regular activities managed by the City of New York are on a pause, and this includes construction projects not deemed essential by the State of New York and that has temporarily stopped most public building projects managed by DDC. At the same time, the majority of infrastructure projects managed by DDC have been deemed essential at this time and will continue.
DDC has temporarily paused consultant design and support services. We hope to have more information on restarting consultant services in the near future and will update this page as information becomes available. Currently, procurement activities are also temporarily on pause.

As for the larger private sites under construction, two of them — 86 Warren and 456 Greenwich — were shut down by the state along with everything else but have been given the greenlight to start again this week, since “hotels, and other places of accommodation” are deemed essential by the state — see the Empire State Development Corp. website here. Developers are also asking the state for exemptions. 


 
Tags:

7 Comments

  1. Your blog post is confusing- whats your point? That essential infra construction projects (water main etc.) should not be allowed to continue, or, that private non-essential projects should be allowed as well?! – The DDC press release and the Governor’s directive all seem very clear and reasonable. Whats being criticized here?

  2. I’ve lived on Warren for six years. Three of those have been taken over by this endless construction. It’s unfathomable to me that it can take this long to repair a street. I hope it does continue and the street is finished and repaved by the end of May — as promised (albeit over a year late).

  3. Jason: Warren Street is not street repair, but replacement of 120+ year old water main buriied in middle of Warren St. and running from Greenwich to Broadway (& other locations too). It was always projected to take years.

Comment: