Bronx Residents Say Complaints About Sinkhole Have Fallen On Deaf Ears
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Bronx residents call a sinkhole downright dangerous, but say their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, the people of Nelson Avenue in the Bronx, where the giant hole in the street has imperiled pedestrians and cars alike, are at their wits' end.
Repair work on the hole by the city and Con Ed has been pending for at least a year according to residents like Sally Glover.
"It should have been done when it was a little tiny hole. Now, it's a big gaping hole like somebody just threw a big old bomb there and blew it up," Glover said.
"I've called 311 a hundred times. People in the neighborhood called 311 and we never got no results, until now," Building Superintendent, Gerald Raspberry said.
On Tuesday morning, crews from the City Department of Environmental Protection arrived to assess the scene, and put up protective barriers. It's not the first time the crater has been cordoned off.
Like an archeological dig, a safety cone and caution tape were visible from a previous repair attempt. A check of Google Maps' Street View shows the same pit in the same condition in June of 2014, roped off with many safety cones.
"We've complained, but nobody has heard our voices," Wilson Sanchez said, "It's really dangerous. Somebody could have got hurt."
A Con Ed emergency crew showed up, shortly after CBS2 was on the scene, to begin removing an electric cable that has delayed fixing the hole, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
By noon the city crew was gone and the Con Ed team departed shortly after, and was not seen again while CBS2 was there, leaving the residents of Nelson Avenue with that sinking feeling once again.
Con Ed said it is working with the DEP and will remove the cable as soon as possible. They apologized for any inconvenience.
The DEP said it doesn't know how many people called 311 and added that the repair work was delayed because of Con Ed's electric cable.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
