From The New York Shitty Inbox: An Incident At West Street & Greenpoint Avenue

A person we’ll call “A” writes:

Figured you might find this story amusing, useful or be totally pissed like I was!

I was enjoying some refreshments at one of my neighborhood faves, Red Star, Monday night when my alcoholic interlude was interrupted by a voice blasting over a loud speaker in the street “Move these cars or we will move them for you”.  Everyone in the bar had the same puzzled look on their faces.  Again we here this voice “Anyone on West Street move your car or lose it”.

It sounded like the cops, so a bunch of us went outside to see what was going on.  Much to our surprise, not cops but trucks with a fleet of WIDE LOAD cars, complete with yellow sirens and obviously a PA system.  There were three MAASIVE trucks with crane equipment on them trying to make the turn from Greenpoint Avenue on to West Street.

A bunch of guys started yelling to the people who had come out of the bar “You can’t park on this street! If these cars belong to you, move them or we’re going to hit them!”

We were all shocked.  #1 There were no signs saying that parking on the street wasn’t allowed. #2 It was 12:30am at night and these guys were yelling through a PA system. #3 The few people from the bar who went to move their cars were told to “Hurry the fuck up” #4 While all this was going on, one guy was cutting down the street signs on West Street with some kind of a saw!

Most of the cars were moved but 2 remained.  One of the guys with the trucking company came into the bar and started yelling “Move your fucking cars! We can’t get the trucks by!”

Eric, the owner, happened to come down to see what all the ruckus was about.  And walked right into this guy yelling.  I don’t know if you know Eric or not?  He’s a really cool dude, totally a Brooklyn kid and that being said, not the type of guy I’d want to be yelling at.

“Can I ask why you’re in here yelling at my customers?” Eric asked the guy.  “Who the fuck are you?”  the neanderthal replied.  “I’m the guy that’s going to drag you the fuck out of here by your ankles if you keep yelling at my customers.  And why are you screaming profanity through a mega phone at 1am.  People live on this block.”  Eric fired back while getting right in the truck drivers face.  “We’re from Bay Crane and we’re doing a big job.  We don’t have time for this shit, tell these assholes to move their cars.”  says the truck driver.

This was a classic Brooklyn style stare down!  It was actually kind of amusing.  Eric was about two inches from the truck drivers face and just calmly replied “So your business is more important than mine?  Your business is more important than my neighbors quality of life?.  Do me a favor?  Leave now!  Or shall I show you the door?” The truck driver just turned and walked out. Everyone in the bar started clapping!

What transpired next was just truly amazing to me! There were two cars left parked on the street.  Everyone else had moved. These guys from the trucking company then started to pry the car doors open with some sort of a lock picking device.  In the process they cracked one of the cars windows!  Once they got the car doors open, they put them in neutral and pushed them down the street!  UNREAL!  Like they owned the streets!

A group of us were outside watching this entire shit show transpire.  The trucks then proceeded to make the turn onto West Street.  These MASSIVE vehicles, had to drive up on to thesidewalk to make the turn.  You could hear the sidewalks cracking under the weight of the trucks.

I filmed most of it on my Iphone, but unfortunately it was way too dark and the video is pretty much black.

Sometime during the caravan of trucks passing, Eric came outside.  A guy who appeared to be in charge, came over and started asking him if the security cameras outside Red Star work.  “Of course they work and they’re filming everything you’re doing!”  The man in charge seemed more than a little irritated.  “You guys are really
unbelievable.  You broke the sidewalks, cut down the street signs and broke into these people cars! What gives you the right to do that?”  Eric asked the man.  “I’m with Bay Crane.  We have insurance, we can do whatever we want. Fuck off!”  was the reply. I really thought the guy was going to get punched in the face at that point, but Eric just pointed to the cameras and went back inside the bar.

After the trucks passed, these guys pushed the cars back.  One was left halfway on the sidewalk and the other was left with the broken window.  They obviously broke the locks on the other car because I could hear one guy saying “These locks won’t lock”  The reply he got from the guy in charge was “Who gives a fuck. Too bad for him. Leave it and let’s go”  and they jumped in their cars and sped off down West Street.

I really couldn’t believe what I saw.  Who do these guys think they are?  Yelling and screaming in the street at 1am.  Destroying city property. Breaking into and destroying private property and just being generally rude and disrespectful of anyone and everyone who wasn’t in their group.

The cops even came by, talked to these guys for a minute or two and then just left! AMAZING!

I walked by the scene of the crime this morning and the street signs are just laying on the side of the street, the sidewalk is cracked and there is broken auto glass in the street.  This really makes me sick.  How can these guys do this and just get away with it?  Now our tax dollars have to go to fix the signs and sidewalks? We can’t keep schools open but we should have to pay for a mess created by Bay Crane?  And how bout the people who’s property was damaged?  I guess they’re just screwed too?

I’m really pissed that I don’t have video for you!  But I did manage to get the names off the sides of the trucks.

Omnisource Transport, LLC
1610 N. Calhoun Street
Fort Wayne, Indiana (IN) 46808
USA

Gary’s Flag Car

I have a confession to make: this is one of the most unbelievable missives ever to make its way to my inbox. So much so I reached out to Eric of Red Star to get his take. Guess what? He corroborated it! He writes:

Hey!

It seems the young lady has her facts correct!

This isn’t an isolated incident with these trucking companies.  It’s been going on for years. I’ve seen them hit cars, rip mirrors off,  use their trucks to push cars down the block/up on to the sidewalk, rip street signs down, crash into the light poles/telephone poles and tie up all traffic on both streets for an hour at a time.

Three years ago on Super Bowl Sunday a metal skid fell off one of the trucks and ripped the entire top of a BMW off.  The drivers don’t even stop!  They keep right on going!

One of these days they’ll eventually kill someone!  Seriously!  They drive way too fast down Greenpoint Ave., never stop at the stop sign and if they cause any damage…..it’s your problem not theirs!

I’ve had my basement doors broken twice by trucks driving on the sidewalk ($450 each time to replace).  I had to install a concrete pillar on the sidewalk to prevent it. (another $300 project)

If the trucks can’t make the corner because of parked cars, they just lean on their horn, no matter what time of day or night.  Sometimes it will go on for 30 or 40 mins at a time.

Sometimes they come into the bar yelling and screaming about cars parked on West Street. They’re not even polite about it.  They act as if people have no right to use the street for parking.

They’ll leave the truck idling all night in front of peoples houses. Horn honking. Loudspeakers. CB’s ….basically whatever the fuck they feel like doing.

Most of the trucks are from out of state, so I assume the drivers are too.  So they obviously could care less.

I’ve tried talking to them.  Called 311. Called DOT.  And all my neighbors have done the same.  Nobody seems to give a fuck  If you call the cops….the trucks are usually long gone before they get here. .

The only guy who really makes an effort to be considerate is Frank from Sky Lift across the street, at the end of Greenpoint Ave. He’s a really good guy and really goes out of his way to be courteous, safe and considerate.

Anyone headed down to the lots at the end of West, towards Eagle….doesn’t give two shits.

It really is infuriating to be honest.

Eric goes on to clarify:

The only thing I’m not too sure about is the young lady’s reference to Bay Crane.  None of the trucks, that I saw said Bay Crane on them.  Omni Source and Gary’s Flag yes……

He also assured me that the signs which were cut down are still there. They were tossed behind a fence. I have been promised photographs of this hilarity and will post it here upon receipt. without further ado, here they are along with some commentary from Eric (the chap who took them)!

Here’s one of the street signs they cut down.  The other was tossed over the fence into the empty lot.  Couldn’t get a pic of that one.

Here’s a pic of the concrete pillar I had to install by my basement doors to prevent trucks from driving over them.  If you notice they also cracked the sidewalk.  I’m sure I’ll end up being the one who gets ticketed for the placement of the pole….go figure huh?

In closing, I have reached out to our Community Board 1 Transportation whiz, Karen Nieves, in the hopes she can give us some guidance as to how to approach this clusterfuck. Methinks I will contact Deputy Inspector Hurson of the 94th Precinct as well.

Here’s the deal: Greenpoint’s waterfront is slowly— but surely— becoming more and more residential. Nonetheless, we still have a great deal of working waterfront and consequently more than our fair share of truck traffic. The operators of the latter motor vehicles need to become cognizant of their new neighbors and adjust their behavior accordingly. I honestly do not know what else to say about this other than I am appalled.

Miss Heather

P.S.: And to think the Department of Transportation last week proposed a complete overhaul of West Street!

NICE.