Exclusive | Construction of jail in tony NYC nabe turns into potentially deadly clown show with failling debris: records, locals

The city’s construction of a new jail in posh Boerum Hill has devolved into a potentially deadly “clown show” — raining rooftop concrete, buckets and sheet metal onto the street, according to records and locals.The problem-plagued project, one of several jails being built around the Big Apple to replace decrepit Rikers Island, was recently slapped with its fourth stop-work order in two years for such violations as allegedly letting “dangerous” debris repeatedly fly off its 300-foot-tall roof.“It could have killed somebody falling from that distance,” said Lori Richmond, a member of the condo board of managers at the tony hi-rise 53 Boerum Place across the street, to The Post.“There were buckets, falling drill bits, cardboard cans, all kinds of things.We’ve seen stuff that’s related to actual construction materials, but we’ve also seen trash that’s generated by the workers,” Richmond said.

“Whatever they’re having for lunch, and it’s flying off onto to us.”Richmond and her neighbors said they have been sounding the alarm for months, even shutting down the block’s outdoor patio area because of falling debris, but that the contractor and city claimed many times the site was in compliance.It wasn’t until a massive sheet-metal duct landed on the lux condo’s shut-down patio last month that the latest official stop-order was put on the job.“It’s a clown show … If the construction now is an example, I would be very concerned about what they’re actually going to be cutting on the inside as well,” Richmond said.Another neighbor claimed, “Building construction is causing insulated debris to be floated in the air, and this is burning eyes and throat.”Local city Councilman Lincoln Restler told his constituents in a newsletter this week that the construction has caused “unacceptable impacts on local neighbors.”More than two dozen complaints about the site have been logged since the 15-story project broke ground in Novem...