BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Homeowners claim a massive
city construction project has
resulted in the routine fl ooding
of their stately Park Slope
brownstones.
“People have had anywhere
from two to 16 inches of sewer
water and stormwater in their
homes,” said Michael Saunders,
who lives near Sixth Avenue
and St. Johns Place. “It’s
cost me thousands of dollars to
deal with the damage.”
The projects requires workers
to dig a massive trench
along Sixth Avenue between
Union Street and Park Place
in an effort to replace underground
water mains and install
sewers, catch basins, and
manholes.
The three-year construction
project offi cially began in
January of 2018, but most of
the heavy work kicked off earlier
this year, and since then
multiple residents living on or
nearby the excavated roadway
COURIER L 6 IFE, SEPT. 6-12, 2019
claim that their homes fl ood
every time that it rains, and
Saunders says there’s no doubt
what’s to blame.
“When Hurricane Sandy
came — and all the other hurricanes
since — we didn’t have
one drop of water — until the
construction,” said Saunders.
“If you presented this to a 10-
year-old, they would do the
right analysis about where the
issue is coming from.”
The fl ooding along Sixth
Avenue is so widespread that
it’s become the talk of the town,
with locals up and down the avenue
swapping horror stories
of bailing out their basements
and tossing waterlogged furniture,
according to a woman living
just off the trenches.
“Neighbors on both sides
of me had three to fi ve inches,
as did one across the road that
I know of, and one a few doors
up from me,” said Kathleen
Dillon, who lives on St. Johns
Place near Sixth Avenue.
AFTERMATH: Park Slopers claim that the water has done thousands of
dollars worth of damage to their brownstones. Photo by Derrick Watterson
Union Street resident Phil
Gable said his basement took
on a few inches during a rainstorm
earlier this month, and
he recounted water gushing
out of walls that have no business
springing a leak.
“Water was just shooting
through the wall, which doesn’t
make any sense — there are no
pipes back there,” said Phil Gable,
who lives just off Sixth Avenue.
“The backyard drains as
it’s supposed to, and there was
no pooling in the front at all. It
was just the basement, which
had several inches”
Another Sloper — who, like
Saunders, says that her home
rode out Hurricane Sandy unharmed
in 2012 — suffered substantial
property damage during
fl oods at her Sixth Avenue
row house between Lincoln
and St. Johns places.
“Everything that was in
contact with the fl oor was damaged,
and had to be thrown
away. And there was mud everywhere,”
said Betty Lou Farrell.
“It was above my ankle.”
The locals have attempted to
register their gripes with anyone
who will listen, including
Councilman Brad Lander, the
mayor’s offi ce, and the Department
of Design and Construction
to name a few, but nothing
has come of it and property
owners are getting salty.
WET WORK
Homeowners demand solution
to routine fl ooding in Park Slope
“The thing that galls me
the most is that there’s been no
communication to anyone in
the neighborhood. It’s like we
don’t even exist. It’s offensive,”
said Farrell. “No one has demonstrated
even an ounce of caring.”
A frustrated Farrell fi red
off an angry phone call to the
community liaison tasked
with handling the public, who
denied any link between the
construction and the deluge
— calling it merely an “act of
god,” according to the homeowner.
“He’s a company man, he’s
not going to do anything,”
said Farrell. “So I just ignored
him.”
A spokesman with the Department
of Design and Construction
said that they are
“investigating the fl ooding reports,”
and promised to install
larger storm sewers in the area
to help mitigate the fl ooding issues
— whatever their cause.
Meanwhile, locals seeking
immediate relief and assistance
have been swamped by
government bureaucracy, said
Saunders.
“They tell me to call the
commissioner of the blah blah
blah. This is the best you can
do?” he asked. “They keep giving
us the runaround. I feel like
I’m in Russia or something.”
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