10
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JAN. 13, 2019
A toxic waste of time
Stop-work order further delays construction of new Greenpoint library
BY JULIANNE CUBA
This library renovation is
now even more overdue.
Work on the longawaited
new Greenpoint
branch of the Brooklyn
Public Library stalled last
week, after city inspectors
slapped book lenders with a
full stop-work order for failing
to adequately safeguard
the construction site.
But the order issued
on Dec. 31 is just a small
hiccup in the already delayed
project funded in
part by Big Oil, which was
originally set to wrap last
spring, and will be back on
track soon, according to a
library rep.
“We expect it to be completely
resolved within a
matter of days and look
forward to getting back to
work,” said Fritzi Bodenheimer.
Inspectors with the Department
STALLED STACKS: City offi cials on Dec. 31 issued a stop-work order to contractors erecting the new branch, rendered here.
Marble Fairbanks
of Buildings issued
the stop-work order
following a routine inspection
at the Norman Avenue
site, when they discovered
that workers didn’t have a
so-called construction superintendent
on the premises,
failed to provide sitesafety
plans, and didn’t
install window protections,
according to a rep for the
agency.
Days later, Buildings Department
bigwigs partially
lifted the order on Jan. 3
so that workers could install
the necessary window
protections, and agency inspectors
will return for another
site inspection once
the other violations are addressed,
the rep said.
Library leaders in October
2017 demolished the
former 1970s-built branch
at the corner of Leonard
Street — which replaced
Greenpoint’s original library
built in 1906 with
cash from steel magnate Andrew
Carnegie — to build
a new $11-million reading
room from the ground up,
which will feature such
climate friendly facilities
as a green roof and center
where locals can host environmental
workshops and
meetings.
Some $5 million in funding
for those facilities came
from a $19.5-million fi ne
that oil-and-gas fi rm Exxon-
Mobil paid the community
in 2014, seven years after
federal offi cials discovered
that the company spilled 30-
million gallons of oil into
the Newtown Creek since
the 1950s. And library honchos
will use a mix of city
and state cash to foot what
remains of the project’s
bill.
The recent stop-work
order came months after
work on the branch temporarily
stopped in October,
when workers uncovered
asbestos from the original
Carnegie library left behind
at the site, which they
then hoped to reopen by the
end of 2018.
But that discovery forced
library leaders to once again
push the branch’s opening
to this summer, according
to Bodenheimer, who said
bookworms plan to open the
Greenpoint branch “later
this year” when asked how
the latest stop-work order
will affect the timeline.
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