PS 199 Playground Closed After Concrete Falls from 200 Amsterdam; Father Says His Child Was Hit
200 Amsterdam abuts the playground.
The playground at PS 199 on West 70th Street was closed by the city after wet concrete fell from 200 Amsterdam Avenue, the controversial 668-foot building being constructed next door.
The Department of Buildings issued a partial stop work order, preventing any work above 40 stories on that side of the building. They also issued violations to the general contractor and a subcontractor on the project and may issue more after investigation, a spokesperson told us.
PS 199 sent a notice to parents on Thursday that the school’s morning dropoff policy had changed due to the closure of the playground.
One PS 199 father, who asked to remain anonymous, said his son and his son’s friends were hit by debris while they were in the playground during recess. The Department of Buildings and Parks Department both said they had no reports of people being injured by falling concrete.
The father said he was disappointed in the school’s response and the site safety.
“This is troubling given the threat to the health and safety of PS 199 students and sounds eerily familiar given the previous issue 200 Amsterdam Avenue had with falling debris into the Lincoln Towers driveway,” the father said. “It is a real shame because the kids won’t be able to use the playground and have recess. I am a Lincoln Towers resident and feel that this building has been a total hazard during construction.”
Developer SJP Properties sent the following statement:
“During a recent concrete pour on the building’s final roof slab, a gust of wind sprayed concrete dust through the safety netting. While it was harmless, our construction manager and site safety director immediately contacted DOB to alert them of the matter. We have stopped all exterior work on the building while we implement additional safety measures to be approved by DOB. As we near the completion of the project, safety at and around the development site is and will continue to be our top priority.”
yikes. this is what all the protesters spoke of
The crying protestors spoke of a zoning lot that conveniently did not comply in their minds so that the views of a several individuals could be preserved. The protestors subsequently turn their attention to anything they can spin to disparage any projects that they can’t afford to live in. It’s become very transparent and comical.
This is the statement, on SJP’s web site, of Steven J. Pozycki, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of SJP Properties: “To be sure, we view every project stakeholder – from municipal officials and the local communities in which we develop, to our institutional investors, contractors and ultimately our tenants and residents – as our partners.” The local community is a stakeholder in this project? What a crock. He should be in jail.
Maybe if they didn’t start construction before the 7:00 am permissible starting time (which they now do regularly) they wouldn’t be too tired to follow safety precautions. Their empathy is lacking in any credibility. Shame on SJP Properties. I suspect their marketing effort will be equally inept. One can always hope.
I’m also a parent at the school and thought the school handled things appropriately to keep students safe. The fault here lies with the building and the DOB, not the school. Not sure why anyone would be disappointed in the school’s response to the situation. The school and community are the victims here: no yard for the kids to use for recess for the foreseeable future. This could have been a good way to expose the Dept of Buildings and the company constructing the building and their negligence.
Where do the students have recess when inclement weather prevents them from being outside? Everything is an outrage on the UWS.
If they can’t use the playground they watch a movie inside. Not ideal at all. Kids need to go outside and run around. There are very few days each year that they playground is actually closed due to weather.
My daughter is a student there and it is really horrible that they can’t have recess (indefinitely) until this is solved. Instead they stay in and watch movies. This building has been a disaster from the beginning.
When developers can “fudge” the truth and trip the light fantastic with the rules and get the city to allow them to do what ever they want, what’s the matter if they put kids at risk? It’s time the City and the DOB took responsibility for their actions but that is unlikely to happen. Want to know why read “De Blasio to Developers: Donate to My Nonprofit. $125,000 Came” in the NYT.. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/nyregion/de-blasio-2020-ethics.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
INFURIATING!!! Thank god those children are ok.
These selfish developers just build and take, take, take. Do they ever consider the people who live here? Do they ever contribute to, say, improving subway entrances, expanding schools or other community needs to accommodate all these new tenants?
Debris already fell once this year and they had to close the sidewalks! But just put up your luxury tower and to hell with whatever falls below!
Our neighborhood doesn’t need this or any other ridiculous, soulless glass tower!! The developers come here because it’s one of the best neighborhoods in the city. They need to contribute.
Actually, SJP Properties built an entire new Subway entrance at 42nd street Times Square and upgraded a lot of infrastructure there…at their own cost. What do you have to say about that???
It is not clear from reporting: did something substantial fall from above or did cement dust splatter/blow from ground level pour?
I think those are two very different scenarios.
Just to make sure…
– Scaffolding erected late
– Netting erected late
– Crane issues
– Concrete spill
– Plank falls onto unprotected 69th Street
– Stability concerns
– and now, this
It’s almost like they want their permits revoked. Why would a developer ever want to be lackadaisical with their flagship project, especially when it’s as controversial as this?
It is a very bad idea to build a monster structure in a densely populated neighborhood. Now it is debris but forever it is shadows.
Back in the early 60’s my friends and I used to drink beer,smoke cigs and if you were lucky got to make out with one of the girls in the crowd in that platground.We were probably 50-60 strong back then.There were no cement droppings just some discarded tampons and such from the Chalfonte Hotel.The hotel was a home to some protitutes and such back then.
Wow what great memories.The west side was so different then.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS…..