Thursday, November 13, 2008

Trump Safety

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
--Frank Zappa

Walking along Varick Street as you cross Spring, Trump SoHo is a reminder that safety is now the prime issue with this project, assuming that it is legal. After crane collapses and a worker’s death, you would think that nothing could go wrong. I even controlled the urge to look up at the 42 or 45 story construction, which is completely out of place in this neighborhood.
After Speaker Quinn’s hearings and lawsuits by the SoHo Alliance, what could go wrong?

Well, the 5 construction and safety workers were busy looking up but said nothing as I walked along Varick under the shed protecting pedestrians. After reaching the other end at Dominic I saw a few more. Only they were telling a pedestrian NOT to walk where I had just exited. They, too, were pointing up and then said “They shouldn’t have let you through, that’s a 9 ton load coming down on the crane and if…” That was relaxing. Then, I looked up. Sure enough, a huge load was making its way down from the crane exactly over where I had been walking. My life insurance is up to date but would the 3 year old understand?

Does anyone understand? That we have a project where safety is LAST.

Don Ameche and Bob Dylan were wrong. Some things don’t change

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