Ben Shaoul's crew (Magnum Real Estate Group, Fortune East, to name but a few of the hydra's heads), are at work on bringing a Starbucks to the East Village, to the very location where the popular Bean had started life. They gave only a month's notice to the Bean to get out. The omnivorous hydra rides the coattails of the neighborhood original.
As captured below, an ascending scaffold suddenly dangles at a dangerous angle.
Reverberations of when Shaoul was in partnership at 303 East 51st Street, where a crane toppled on March 15, 2008, smashing a building, injuring two dozen people and killing 7 people. here and here
Making the Case:
"If Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Management is indeed the operating arm behind PVE Associates LLC, it wouldn’t be the first time Shaoul’s involvement in a highly publicized event has escaped the media and public’s attention.
In a December 2007 article by Steve Cutler in the trade newspaper The Real Deal, in which Shaoul was interviewed, Shaoul’s Magnum Group was identified, along with Kennelly Development, as a partner in the 40-story building at 303 E. 51st St., where seven workers were killed in a crane accident on March 15 of this year, in one of the worst construction accidents in the city’s history." - The Villager
The crew struggles to right the scaffold.
A passerby exclaims "They're stupid!"
The resting point remains askew.
Have safety precautions been taken?
Swinging Scaffolds (Two-Point Suspension)
...Each worker must be protected by a personal fall arresting system attached to an independent lifeline. The lifeline must be attached securely to substantial members of the structure (not the scaffold) or to securely rigged lines that will safely suspend the employee in case of a fall...
thank you for that important post. I live in the EV and I am NOT going to walk under that scafold again, and I have no intention of ever setting foot inside the Starbucks. That Shaoul guy sounds like real bad news.
ReplyDeleteI read in the Villager that Shaoul had some kind of crane incident at a building on east 11th street. The entire building had to be evacuated. And no surprise, the tenants were not allowed back in, and I think the building was converted to luxury apts. Mr. Shaoul has an issue with cranes. Why doesn't the media connect the dots?
ReplyDeleteThis is so freaking creepy. The fact that this Shaoul guy didn't learn his lesson after people actually DIED because of him is yet another reason his taking over the East village, in particular E 4th st. and its environs, turns my stomach. You'd think an episode like that would haunt him. I'm beginning to think he is a heartless robot. Next time someone sees him, they should stop him and tap on his chest where that thumping organ is supposed to be to see if they hear a hollow sound.
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