facade work redux

August 4, 2018

Tenants in some units of Kenmore Hall had a memo from Almir Lalicic tucked into their doors on Friday, July 27, regarding the start of façade work in the west airshaft slated for Tuesday, July 31. Almir is the Director of Property Management for H.S.I. 

For tenants who weren't living in the building back in 2009, we've had façade work done before, and it was a nightmare. Not only did the work go on for extended hours without any noise reduction, the workmen were extremely careless with their scaffolding and managed to break some windows. There was no effort to minimize, reduce or contain the dust and grit that was being drilled off the façade, and it ended up coming through windows into the building, leaving a coating in rooms, halls, and many common areas. It was substantial enough to get into the fire alarm panel in the lobby and cause numerous false alarms. 

The situation was especially nightmarish for tenants with lung disease; we're not supposed to be exposed to that much airborne dust and grit because it exacerbates asthma and COPD. Complaints to management and the Department of Buildings at the time led nowhere; the situation continued for months, and some tenants remember the summer of 2009 as the summer they had ongoing pneumonia and emergency room visits. The Department of Buildings, after receiving one complaint regarding the failure to minimize the dust and grit, sent an inspector, and reported back that the contractors WERE taking measures - but this was a complete lie; videos taken during the same time period show that workmen on scaffolds without even having masks or respirators to protect themselves from inhaling what was flying off the surfaces they were drilling, and absolutely no plastic tenting or water being sprayed to minimize airborne dust (these are two of the most common methods used).

This time around, I contacted Johnny Chavez, one of the caseworkers at Kenmore Hall, and asked him whether there would be any way to protect tenants against this situation THIS time around. I first spoke to him on Monday, July 30. He told me he wasn't sure, but that he would check with management, and sent them an email. I also emailed Almir about the issue. By late in the week, I'd gotten responses from both telling me that filters would be placed on the exteriors of air conditioners to protect them from being clogged with material falling from the upper floors. I let Almir know that no filter had been placed on MY air conditioner yet, and he responded that he would be in touch with the contractors to make sure they took care of it.

Then I noticed the Partial Stop Work Order issued by the Department of Buildings glued to the front window of the building at street level. It's dated August 2, 2018, so someone (not me!) notified the Department of Buildings fairly quickly and got an inspector to come to the building right away. (It often takes much longer.) Interesting. 

Let's all keep an eye on the situation. If Almir wasn't inventing a solution, tenants in the West airshaft should have some form of protective filter placed on their air conditioners soon. The Stop Work Order may keep this aspect of the construction job shut down for a while, though, at least until the problem is fixed and fines are paid.

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"You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better." - Anne Lamott