EXCLUSIVE: Sunset residents were concerned about block’s condition well before sinkhole

August 4, 2015 Jaime DeJesus

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by Meaghan McGoldrick

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After the sudden sinkhole opened up in Sunset, some residents are crying foul.

According to Executive Director Sunset Park Business Improvement District (BID) Renee Giordano, residents near the reported 50 foot deep and 20 foot across sinkhole on 64^th Street and Fifth Avenue that occurred early Tuesday, August 4 had long been complaining about the area’s conditions.

“From what I understand, the people on the block have been complaining about the location for long time,” she said. “This past Saturday (August 1) the City installed a brand new fire hydrant because the old one was leaking. They patched the area up with tar.”

A female Sunset Park resident, who has remained anonymous, contacted Giordano to inform her of the situation. “She said there were cracks on the streets. Now it has collapsed.” She also added that no water seemed to be gushing out of the hole and that various city agencies held a private teleconference call on how to move forward.

Founder of the Sunset Parker Facebook page Tony Giordano chimed in on how residents complaints before. “They ignored her concern about the sinking street. We are so fortunate that no one was injured,” he said. “The City was there on Saturday and was told by a Sunset Parker about the sinking street. They just replaced the hydrant and added asphalt.”

Tony also added that the neighborhood page now has a program called Block Links, which helped quickly spread the word. “We were able to get the word out to over 60 blocks just ten minutes after it happened. We plan to use this email “blast” system to keep residents informed in times of emergencies and to keep up to date on issues.”