Retaining wall collapses in the Bronx
NEW YORK - As rain moved through our area, a retaining wall in the Bronx gave way.
It happened Wednesday morning in the Mount Hope section.
There's an ongoing battle over who's on the hook for repairs.
Grafton Jones was asleep Wednesday morning when he heard a loud noise and found a portion of his backyard had disappeared, falling onto the roof of an autobody shop below.
"It sounded like two trucks collapsed or crashed, like, boom. So when I look at my camera, I see the whole wall collapsed," Jones said.
Firefighters responded just before 7 a.m. Five residential buildings and three business were impacted, but fortunately there were no injuries.
Neighbors said the wall was about 50 feet tall, made out of dirt and stone, and ran along their backyards, which are situated on a hill along Anthony Avenue. Years ago, they discovered cracks.
"We have been waiting for this to happen. We knew it was going to happen, because you can see from the water the snow this was going to happen. The wall was actually cracking already," neighbor Dwayne Olin said.
Neighbors said they've been locked in a bitter battle with the city since the early 2000s, asking for repairs to be made. They said they recently had a meeting with the Department of Buildings and were told the cost of fixing the wall was not the city's responsibility.
"The wall extends beyond our property, and the wall contains the property in the back and these properties in front. So it's impossible for us to see how we own the wall. We went to get drawings, and the architect says the city owns the wall," Jones said.
The Department of Buildings refutes the families' claims. A spokesperson sent us a statement that reads in part, "the retaining wall is located on private property. When a retaining wall spans multiple property lots, all of the property owners are jointly responsible for the wall."
The DOB says the collapse remains under investigation and that, prior to this incident, it issued orders to these property owners to make repairs.
