An eyesore remains standing on Woodhaven strip
Assemblyman calls on Buildings Dept. to do something fi ve years after façade collapse
BY MARK HALLUM
Assemblyman Mike Miller
is taking a stab at encouraging
the city Department of
Buildings (DOB) to address
building that collapsed years
ago on Jamaica Avenue
displacing two businesses,
including the Woodhaven
Volunteer Ambulance Corp,
and still provides a hazardous
blemish to the community.
Miller said the structure at
78-19 Jamaica Ave. collapsed
in 2014 and is still without a
roof even after scaffolding was
erected around the dilapidated
structure and has amassed
a number of violations with
the DOB.
‘This has been a constant
eyesore for the community and
the owner has been negligent
with restorations for far too
long. There is scaffolding
in front of the building;
however the required work
has never been completed
and to this day there is no
roof,” Miller said. “This
building has been vacant for
years and the owner has not
complied with maintaining
the building to proper code. I
ask that your agency take the
essential steps to rectify this
hazardous condition.”
But DOB records show
problems with the building
extend even further back
with February 2012 violation
regarding work taking place
on the roof without a permit
and crews using “questionable
construction methods to
support roof” as well as an
April 2013 partial vacate order
from FDNY cited “structural
defects throughout.”
Photos from Project
Woodhaven show the building
immediately after the collapse
with bricks scatted across the
sidewalk and the street and
large portion of the rubble
having landed on a car parked
on the street in front of
the address.
Google Street View photos
from June 2018 show that work
began to restore the roof, but
A recent photo of the exterior of 78-15 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven. Photo via Google Street View
it was never completed. You
can see weeds fully grown
out of the bricks above the
second floor.
The complaints section of
the DOB website dates back to
2006, when the first note report
the second floor shaking and
vibrating with a steel ceiling
beam screwed to the roof joists
without a permit.
There are a total of 25
complaints on the building
from this date forward with
other topics including the
address of a laundromat being
blocked and no lighting under
scaffolding which the permits
for had expired.
A 2015 stop work order still
exists on the property with
civil penalties due.
The DOB did not
immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
Relieve Pain.
Regain Your Life.
ONE ON ONE PATIENT CARE
TIMESLEDGER, M QNS.COM ARCH 29-APR. 4, 2019 3
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