NEWS: Civic Group Thinks State Should Take Back NYS Pavilion
From the Queens Tribune:
http://www.queenstribune.com/news/1163849144.html
Push For State Control For Neglected Pavilion
By THERESA JUVA
The nebulous fate of the New York State Pavilion and the growing evidence of its neglect has led one citizen to forge ahead with his own plan.
David Oats, president of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Civic Association, recently released a proposal to state officials including Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton. It outlines the history of the site and offers a solution to the site’s life in limbo.
“The first is for the governor to take the building back,” he said. “It was paid for by state of New York; it was ordered by the governor of New York.”
Oats said because the Parks Dept., the site’s owner, has failed to maintain the structures, the state should take control and make it a landmark, an official status the site has never been granted—despite what the Parks Dept. plaque says at the base.
With landmark status, it cannot be torn down, which would eliminate the biggest fear for historical preservationists like Oats, who said it’s time someone pays attention to the “elephant in the living room” of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Besides the visual atrocity of rusting and weed-infested structures, there are mounting questions about the hazards of the site as a result of ongoing neglect.
The Tribune previously reported that several engineering reports commissioned by the Parks Dept document the potential dangers at the “Tent of Tomorrow.”
Dorothy Lewandowski, Queens Borough Commissioner, responded in an e-mail to our questions about the safety of structure.
“Aside from the reports produced by consultants, which we do not agree with, our Chief Engineer and crew conduct regular inspections of the structure and have found that, while it does need work, is not in immediate danger of collapsing,” she wrote.
The Tribune was told to file a Freedom of Information Law request to gain access to the inspection reports, but Lewandowski said they do not exist.
“We are not required to put into paper regular inspections of our properties,” she said.
Considering the suggestion from the 1992 Geiger Engineers report – “The (Tent of Tomorrow foundation) must be inspected on an every six month basis to assure that no significant settlement has occurred” – it is unclear why no records are kept on the careful monitoring of a decaying structure.
While several reports examine the stability of the “Tent of Tomorrow,” the neighboring observation towers have never been fully studied, the Parks Dept acknowledged in its 2004 request for expressions of interest to renovate the site.
The abandoned elevators – one broken at the bottom and one visibly jammed on the way to the top – pose the biggest problem at the site. A 1996 report by John Ciardullo Associates recommended “safing off the surrounding area” by removing the elevators with an estimated cost of $12,000.
Nothing has been done with the elevators, even as they continue to rack up Buildings Department violations.
According to a search of buildings records from the Buildings Department Web site, the observation towers have 19 active violations dating back to 1989 that stem from failures to conduct elevator safety tests.
The violations refer to Local Law 10 from 1981 that states elevators must be inspected twice a year with “with the owner mandated to make one of inspections. The owner must inspect the building’s elevator between January 1 and September 15 each year.” Penalties for failure to file an inspection can add up to $100 a day, but cannot exceed $1,000 from the due date of the report. The latest elevator violation is from March of this year.
“The building is a travesty and embarrassment to the state,” Oats said.