Crane collapses in NYC; at least 1 dead

[cosmicalstorm]

This is the second one this year, I thought they would get their shit togheter after the first one came crashing down the other month but apparently not.

An early-morning crane collapse killed at least one person on the Upper East Side, the latest in a startling string of construction accidents.

The collapse happened just before 8 a.m. at East 91st Street and 1st Avenue, with the crane ripping through the white brick exterior of an apartment building and landing on the street below.

Firefighters combed through the wreckage, searching for bodies. Rescuer workers pulled two people from the rubble, the Fire Department said.

"This is just unacceptable, and we have to figure out what happened," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a radio interview. "The bottom line, number one, is public safety."

And City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin said people should be furious. "They have a right to be angry," she said in a television interview. "They have a right to be nervous when they're walking down the street near a construction site."

The construction was taking place at 335 East 91st St.. A police source said the Department of Buildings in April cited the contractor for operating a crane in an unsafe manner with hoisting a steel box with no permit.

In March, seven people were killed in a crane collapse on East 51st Street. An inspector in the city's Buildings Department was later arrested on charges of falsifying business records, and Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster resigned.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyo ... 2841.story

[Broomstick]

What has been happening is the result of years of "deregulation is GOOD!" mentality that has lead to cutbacks in monitoring and inspection programs at all levels in all areas.

[Maxentius]

Holy shit, again? Someone's head had better roll for this, after all the money the city spent trying to make sure this didn't happen again after the one went down in April.

According to my morning paper, the DOB Commissioner has resigned, and the cops have arrested the inspector who gave this crane the green light - which was apparently on Monday. Joy. I'm not walking past any cranes on my way home from the office.

[Redleader34]

WHAT THE FUCK... I thought someone bumped up the crane article from a while back, and now this shit happens. Bloomberg is going to not like this, that is for sure. More heads will roll, and this will be a big marker on the next Mayoral election.