NEW YORK — Imagine being forced out of your home, with only minutes to pack up your belongings. It happened to a Brooklyn family after city inspectors say they found safety violations at a nearby construction site.
That family, which includes three generations, has been displaced for more than a week, and they’re afraid of what’s next.
Brooklyn family evacuated after accident at nearby construction site
Homeowner Yvonne Belardo says on Sept. 5, without warning, firefighters told her to get out of her three-story home in Bushwick. City inspectors had discovered the building next door was unstable and had to be demolished.
“It’s like I don’t matter. No one’s speaking to me, telling me what’s my rights,” Belardo said.
CBS News New York investigative reporter Mahsa Saeidi saw that neighbor’s property manager, city officials and a demolition company on the scene.
Belardo says she wants to make sure her house is protected when her neighbor’s goes down.
“I understand there’s nothing that can be done about saving that home. Then why don’t you do all you can to make sure you save my home because I had nothing to do with the accident,” she said.
The accident happened at a construction site two doors down. According to the Department of Buildings, the contractor dug too deep, “contrary to approved documents,” catastrophically damaging the neighbor’s home. The DOB stopped work on the site.
Although the neighbor had done nothing wrong, it was now their responsibility to take down their own building.
But what about Belardo next door?
“This house is my legacy”
Standing next to a tree her parents planted in the 1960s, Belardo says she feels forgotten.
“This house is my legacy to leave for my family,” she said. “My children were born here. My grandchildren were born here, so this house means more to us than anything. It’s not just a house to me anymore. It’s our history.”
Three generations of Belardo’s family lived under the same roof, until now.
“I don’t know where to go to, who to turn to. I don’t know what agency I should be talking to,” said Belardo’s daughter Krystal Rodriguez. “I’m devastated.”
She wants to know if their home should be shored up, and if so, when and who should pay for it?
“A house doesn’t make our family, you know, we make our family, but … I just don’t think it’s fair,” said Krystal’s daughter Amanda Rodriguez.
Saeidi immediately called the DOB to see what’s being done to protect this family’s home.
A spokesperson said they’re not ordering Belardo to shore up her building, but they are requiring the neighbor to have a professional engineer on-site to direct and supervise the demolition.
Now, the family waits.
“It’s also unfortunate because it happens not just to us, but to a lot of other families,” Amanda Rodriguez said.
Saeidi called and emailed the contractor for comment, and has not heard back.
The family said the demolition on the neighboring home was expected to get underway Thursday night.
Fort Greene residents displaced for 2 months after contractor error
In Fort Greene, residents are dealing with the same problem caused by a different contractor.
City inspectors found the contractor did work “contrary to DOB approved plans,” causing a partial collapse of a load-bearing shared wall.
Now, two months after the incident, both buildings are still vacated, outraging neighbors like Alec Hall. He says one family had lived in one of the affected homes for decades; they were among those forced out and now have to live in a hotel.
“These buildings could have toppled,” he said.
DOB records show the Fort Greene contractor had a prior safety violation. Saeidi also called and emailed the contractor in the Fort Greene incident for comment, and has not heard back.
Meanwhile, the DOB says “when contractors cut corners,” the department uses all “tools at our disposal to hold these bad actors accountable.”
While the DOB can stop work on a site, the agency doesn’t have the legal authority to prevent a contractor from working on another site, no matter how many violations they rack up. The DOB says they’re open to working with City Council on new measures to increase accountability in the construction industry.
For two years, the DOB has been trying to educate contractors, and they’ve seen a 32% decrease in the number of Stop Work Orders.
In both the Bushwick and Fort Greene cases, the violations are open. The contractors will have the opportunity to attend a hearing and dispute what the DOB has found. It’s possible that the judge will dismiss the DOB’s complaints.
