According to the Brooklyn Papers, this woman (Pat Maliha, a Windsor Terrace preservationist) was “nearly decapitated” last week from a 36-inch piece of glass falling from everyone’s favorite Park Slope eyesore: the 10,000-square-foot brownstone on 7th Ave. that used to house the “legendarily wacky” Landmark Pub.
Apparently Maliha was in Tarzian West across the street when the guillotine fell. Now she is going to sue, according to Brooklyn Papers. Not sue the building owner, but the city, for not securing the loose and broken windows: “The city knew about the danger … But it didn’t do enough to protect people.” Well… maybe we’re a little late to the story, but there has been scaffolding around the building since at least the beginning of March. And one obvious question: how did the glass get from the window to the curb, especially with all that scaffolding sidewalk tunnel to catch it? Take a look at this photo and try to imagine the trajectory of the glass… Not saying it’s impossible, but if glass fell out of a combination of neglect and gravity, wouldn’t it simply fall straight down into the scaffolding??
Anyway… Is it right to sue the city? Drano writes on the Park Slope Message Boards: “On the one hand, it kind of seems as absurd as trying to sue the NYPD if you’ve been mugged… On the other hand, this particular ‘mugger’ has been in one spot, rotting away for the better part of twenty years… the condition of the building is plain to see.”
Oh yeah – remember when that building went on the market for $5.75 million last fall? Ken Freeman, the realtor who was handling it, called the building a “disaster”, and said the owner refused to negotiate from that high price, according to the Brooklyn Papers.
Paging Bruce Ratner: Any interest in invoking eminent domain on this beast??
Read more on the Park Slope Message Boards
what are you talking about.. scaffolding? there’s no scaffolding there now and there never HAS been in the 25-yrs i’ve lived in the slope.
Sorry. Looks like the correct term for it is “sidewalk tunnel” or “sidewalk shed”. I have always referred to it as scaffolding (incorrectly, apparently).
Here’s the quote from the Brooklyn Papers article:
“The complaint was dismissed after an inspector found sidewalk tunnels around the building and boards over the windows, work that had been done several months earlier.”
“Kate Lindquist, a spokeswoman for the department, said the city would ‘continue to re-inspect the building and the sidewalk shed and issue violations when warranted.’â€
How did it almost un-preserve the preservationist if she was across the street when it fell?? I live across the street from it and I am so glad that nobody has touched it yet. Eyesore? Try 12 more families with 12 more strollers, 12 more Subaru’s, and probably another ice cream parlor/tea lounge. PS, I hear it’s haunted. THe one good thing about the scaffolding or urban tunnel or whatever is that there is a dry place for my dog to poop.
Oh, I didn’t look at the photo first. Ragtop? Woman?
What an experience she must have had. I wasn’t there to witness the awful event, or rather, the awful event that never came to fruition. I understand that we experience things in life that thrust us where we weren’t expecting. It’s frightening, I’m sure, to survive (without a scratch) a huge piece of glass almost cutting your head off. I’m confused, however, as to why she is suing? Will I be able to sue someday for something I read about in the paper the following day, arguing that I had been there when it happened- granted to someone else, but nonetheless might have happened to me? There is always potential. It could have been her and not just the roof of her car. It wasn’t her head or her arm or her leg.
This seems more like a class-action suit than one belonging exclusively to her. The neighborhood has endured the ugly building for almost two decades, is it? (Poor, poor rich Park Slope.) In light of her experience, I would support her being given some remuneration for the car, and perhaps money to cover the PTSD that she is possibly experiencing (I’ll need receipts, please.), but $5.75m is outrageous. Even if she opts for a non-sliding therapist at $225/hour, three times a week, she won’t come close. (Hell, she could find one that slides like the rest of us.) I’ll gladly stand corrected if I missed the part where it said she lost an arm and a leg in the accident. But should NYC residents lose theirs just because she almost lost hers?