Toxic waste of time
Stop-work order further delays construction of new Greenpoint library
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
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
SUGARY DRINKS
CONTRIBUTE TO
INCREASING RATES
OF HEART DISEASE
AND TYPE 2 DIABETES
IN CHILDREN, TEENS
AND ADULTS.
Restaurants can help
reverse this trend by
making healthy drinks
like milk and water the
default drink option on
children’s menus.
#servekidsbetternyc
BY JULIANNE CUBA
This library renovation is now
even more overdue.
Work on the long-awaited
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
of Buildings issued the
stop-work order following a
routine inspection at the Norman
Avenue site, when they
said.
97% of kids’ restaurant meals are unhealthy.
With families eating out more often, it’s time
for restaurants to serve kids better.
COURIER L 6 IFE, JAN. 11–17, 2019 DT
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-andgas
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.
STALLED STACKS: City offi cials on Dec. 31 issued a stop-work order to
contractors erecting the new branch, rendered here. Marble Fairbanks