By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

FULTON FERRY LANDING -- Street reconstruction work on Old Fulton Street and nearby Water Street for the installation of new water lines has caused concerns among both merchants and residents in the historic neighborhood.

According to Craig Chin of the city Department of Design and Construction (DDC), old water mains, which are 16 to 24 inches wide, are being replaced with a new 36-inch trunk water main. Chin added that this type of work is usually combined with work on sewer lines and utility lines.

“You wouldn’t want to do a water-main reconstruction, and then tear the same street up six months later for work on the sewer system,� commented Robert Perris, district manager of Community Board 2.

The Fulton Ferry Landing Association’s (FFLA’s) web site explains that “the water and sewer project,� which is being done in two phases, is being “piggybacked� with Brooklyn Bridge Park’s “construction of Bridge Plaza.�

The association explains that “the wide part of Water Street, roughly between Old Fulton Street and the Boiler House [chimney], will be narrowed by 50 percent.� This is being done to expedite pedestrian flow.

Pete Thristino, owner of Pete’s Downtown restaurant at the corner of Old Fulton and Water streets, pointed out that construction barriers in front of his restaurant have prevented parking, cutting down on business.

One day, he added, Con Edison workers, who had “the wrong information,� cut the electric lines by mistake, and the restaurant had to be closed the whole day. Another time, he said, the sewer lines were broken.

The construction and general noise, he said, have certainly deterred some people from coming into the restaurant.

Jennifer Landry, a resident of the same building and a member of the FFLA, said many residents are concerned about the safety of the old buildings on Old Fulton Street – many of which were built on landfill. Her building, she said, which dates back to the 1830s and was once the Franklin Hotel, “is not properly protected� by its owner.

The workers on the job, she said, are using vibration monitors at the request of local residents. Still, she said, “vibration monitors are a little like the black boxes used in airplanes� – they tell you what’s wrong after something happens.

She adds, as another positive step, that workers are also using jackhammers, rather than backhoes. “Jackhammers are less dangerous,� she said.

Joan Zimmerman, president of the FFLA, reiterated that many of the buildings were built on landfill and said that “they sit on water – there is water running underneath them.� Among the “very fragile buildings� that could be threatened, she said, are not only the ones on Old Fulton Street but also the Tobacco Warehouse and the Empire Stores. Construction, she added, has also led to an increase in rats in the area.

The FFLA, she also said, had to struggle to get vibration monitors used on the job, and had to enlist the help of Councilman David Yassky.

Still, she said, the city has generally given residents adequate advance notice of digging. Both Landry and Zimmerman praised Paul Kidder, the on-site liaison for DDC. “He’s very good – he’s worked on other jobs,� commented DDC’s Chin.

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