Talk about tunnel vision! The City has decided that they don’t need a permit to build the THREE BILLION DOLLAR filter plant, because it is attached to the tunnel. See post below on July 10.
The memo from 1989 describes some exempt use at the Jerome Avenue Pumping Station. For almost thirty years I would ask, what are those ugly white trailers doing at the pumping station; and no one could answer me. We knew they were not from the MTA, but that they had something to do with the third water tunnel. Someone should find out exactly who is in the trailer park at Jerome and Van Cortlandt Avenue. Anyhow, here it is:
- 1989 memo dob-scan-letter-obj-071408
The “white trailers” at the Jerome Avenue Pumping Station do not fit the explanation; they are offices on city property. Curiously, the DOB retains jurisdiction over the trailers at the CWTP, but not at the Jerome Avenue Pumping Station???? Moreover, the CWTP does not fit the explanation; if it did, they would never have had to do ten years of Environmental Reviews!
The attached Objection Sheet is advising the “withdrawal” of the application, but I requested the actual list of objections that the plan examiner wrote up. Apparently that is not kept at the DOB, and the plan examiner no longer works at the DOB. In addition, Marshall’s explanation (see below) excludes trailers, which there are trailers. No consistent actions have been taken.
- Charter section nyc_charter_643-buildings-dept
The City Charter § 643 states that “the Department [of Buildings] shall enforce … such provisions of the building code, zoning resolution, … as may govern the construction, … of buildings or structures in the city,” but that, with certain stated exceptions, “the jurisdiction of the department … shall not extend to waterfront property … or to bridges, tunnels or subways or structures appurtenant thereto.” (§ 643 [7].) The statute’s language clearly limits the exemption to a tunnel or structure appurtenant to a tunnel, not a filtration plant !
- Dated July 15, 2008. This is the statement that was sent out by DEP: “Under the New York City Charter § 643(7), a building permit is not required for the Croton Water Treatment Plant because it is appurtenant to an underground tunnel. Permits for other aspects of work are required, and the Department of Environmental Protection will comply with these requirements.”
More Documents of interest:
- 3701japroperty61708-1 Property Profile for 3701 Jerome Avenue, the CWTP
Finally, this appurtenant decision was not listed and/or described in the 2004 FSEIS, and is arbitrary and capricious!
By JPRFriend on Aug 11, 2008 | Reply
Tougher safety rules for all, Stringer says
Not all buildings adhere to NYC’s strict guidelines
by amy zimmer / metro new york
AUG 11, 2008
The Freedom Tower, the United Nations, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Port Authority Bus Terminal are among the more than 800 major buildings not covered by the city’s safety codes.
Since they are owned by the federal or state government, quasi-independent agencies like the Port Authority or MTA or foreign organizations, they are not subject to inspections by the city’s police, fire or buildings departments.
Yet, those departments are called upon when emergencies happen.
“We need to have one building code standard,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said yesterday.
Stringer was joined by Joseph Graffagnino, the father of one of two firefighters killed in a blaze almost a year ago at the former Deutsche Bank building, which was being dismantled due to Ground Zero contamination. Then owned by the joint city-state Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the building was technically exempt from the city’s inspections and enforcement, Stringer pointed out.
“We don’t want it to happen again,” Graffagnino said. “We don’t want firefighters going into buildings where they don’t know what they’re getting into.”
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No authority for city
Some buildings do allow fire inspections, but the findings — including potentially dangerous violations — are just advisory, explained Jim Riches, a recently retired FDNY Deputy Chief. “They’re above the law.”
http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Tougher_safety_rules_for_all_Stringer_says/13292.html