Carroll Gardens. By many accounts, a peaceful, up-and-coming Brooklyn enclave, blessed with neighborhood gems like Frankies 457, brownstone-lined blocks, and a quiet sense of neighborhood.
Or is it? Following today's Daily News report of a rat invasion on Luquer Street (for newcomers: handy pronouncation guide) comes one of the more intriguing Curbed reader reports we've ever received. Study the above photo closely then dive into the tale of luxury condos, sonic-boom dumpsters, and "a machine that is impossible to describe," after the jump.
A while back I wrote in a tip about a gang of kids who were running the streets of Carroll Gardens smashing car windows. I never did follow up with you about that story as my rage quickly subsided. Not to worry though, that rage is back in spades over the ongoing construction project that is happening right across the street from me. The construction site in question is an old (my guess would be mid to late 1800's) factory that is located on Carroll Street between Hoyt and Bond Sts. Whoever finally bought the building, which had been for sale since I moved in 6 years ago, decided that they were going to build luxury condos on the site. For that added draw, they decided to leave the old building mostly intact (for that warm warehouse feel). Converting an old warehouse into luxury condos is nothing new around here and we expected the transformation to happen quickly and quietly.
Unfortunately, this project has been nothing close to quick or quiet. When they started gutting the factory, the dumpsters were dropped off and replaced every other night between the hours of 1am and 6am. Now this might not sound too bad to a person who hasn't witnessed how these massive dumpsters get dropped off and picked up, but believe me, it's downright frightening to be around. They are so heavy and dropped so hard that they literally shook my house when they did it...and that's not even mentioning the near sonic boom it unleashed as it hit the ground. Numerous calls were made to 311 from numerous residents of our block all to no avail. It got so bad that as soon as we were woken up by this insanity, we would call the company responsible for the drop off and pick up of the dumpsters ( a company called GUMA). Unfortunately it turned out that no one at their company wanted to be awake at that hour of the morning and our calls went unanswered. The demolition phase mercilessly ended about two weeks ago and we all thought it would be smooth sailing from there. Oh, how wrong we were.
A machine that is impossible to describe, has sat out in front of our beloved factory spewing god knows what all over the street, cars, and houses of this once peaceful neighborhood. Of course, a very loud engine must be idled all day in order for this great beast to spread its brown chalky love. Again, numerous calls to 311 have been made, and again, it continues. At one point, they were "kind" enough to rinse off some of the cars they had covered through the course of the day. They have made no offer to do anything about the covering that now exists, and continues to pile up, on any brownstone that just happens to be down wind of their work. The kicker in all of this is that the man operating the machine is wearing a protective mask to stop him from breathing in anything he shouldn't be!
Where is our mask? Now, I know that construction happens and that no one's quiet little neighborhood remains quiet and little, but this really is too much.
Thanks for listening...no one else seems to want to.
· Rat Invasion Angers Nabe [NYDailyNews]