It is made of very heavy blocks and the purpose is to hold fill at the North Avenue demolition site. The building that was demolished had a shared "party wall" with the building next door, so filling the excavated hole might place pressure on that wall (or so I understand it). The mafia wall will now take on the weight of the fill, sparing the wall from possible collapse.
The demolition took place on March 21 and caused damage to the building next door.
This story began in December 2011 with a fire in the vacant three-story building. There was talk of demolition at the time, but nothing happened.
Three years later, Plaintalker called attention to the damaged structure and asked what it would take to resolve the situation.
On March 21, the ill-fated effort to tear down the building created even more problems which are still being worked out.
--Bernice
Accountability? We don't need no stinkin' accountability.
ReplyDeleteI am not making a joke about the wall being crooked, but if that work was paid for with my TAX dollars I want my money back. Just another example of how pride in doing a good job no longer exists.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time there was a decrepit building which cried out to be demolished. After almost two years of further neglect the sad building made a protest by discharging a portion of itself into the back yard. It is noteworthy that the building was considerate enough not to disgorge itself into the street. City officials awakened from their slumber hastened to declare an EMERGENCY. An EMERGEBCY declaration warranted an instant demolition. The dalliance continued. During the ensuing 2 months what was not done far exceeded what was done. A declaration of emergency means that the situation presents a public hazard. To rectify the hazard the municipality has the authority to hire a COMPETENT contractor, that is, one skilled in the class of work required, and pay the Contractor on a time and materials basis. That is, when the work is completed the Contractor submits his costs, the Municipality audits them, upon approval applies the customary margins for overhead and profit. For reasons unknown this was not the procedure. During the two months following the declaration of emergency it has been reported that bids were taken. The bids were solicited orally. The time was not used to prepare bid documents which would have consisted of a precise scope of work .and form of contract, followed by an advertisement. The contract was awarded in a highly questionable manner to a Real Estate Company with no prior demolition experience? The Real Estate Company did in fact, hire a demolition contractor. With the City official present who made the award, an independent engineering firm present to supervise the demolition, the demolition contractor proceeded to wreck the building and in so doing wrecked the adjacent building. What was conspicuous was that the two buildings had a party wall. That is, the walls of the two buildings were in intimate contact. Moreover, the building which was demolished towered 2 stories over it neighbor. The demolition of necessity had to be conducted surgically to prevent the damage to the adjacent building. Beyond that, a casual examination would have shown the "Supervisors" that both buildings had cellars. The consequence being that the demolition debris falling into the cellar of the demolished building posed the hazard of collapsing both cellar walls.. How the inspecting engineer, particularly if he was a professional engineer registered in NJ, could have allowed the demolition to proceed is questionable. The debacle continued. The Realty company was dismissed for cause. It now appears this company is being paid on the basis a revised unsubstantiated billing. The removal of the demolition debris was performed under a separate contract. At some point someone got the wake up call that cellar walls were imperiled. It became necessary to pay to construct a retaining wall. What is apparent is that this odyssey of error probably cost on the order of twice what I should have, and that Plainfield needs a full time Municipal engineer to attempt to keep it out of trouble. Bill Kruse
ReplyDeleteAs usual, Bill, you are right!
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