Greenpoint Gazette_20202703

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GREENPOINT | WILLIAMSBURG

VOLUME 48 | NUMBER 12

March 26, 2020

(718) 422-7400

25¢

NORTH B’KLYN PIPELINE PROCEEDS, DESPITE RESIDENTS’ CORONAVIRUS FEARS

Greenpoint Gazette photo by Paul Frangipane

At the Community Board 1 meeting, protesters filled the room with signs and banners.

By Scott Enman Greenpoint Gazette

The coronavirus pandemic has severely disrupted life in Brooklyn and beyond, with residents working from home and others losing their jobs entirely. But for some of the city’s largest utility companies, work has

continued as usual — despite employees testing positive for the disease. A Con Edison worker came down with the illness in Queens, according to ABC7, but the company is still sending employees to read gas meters in customers’ homes. Similarly, construction on National

Grid’s controversial North Brooklyn Pipeline has proceeded with workers in close contact, despite the city and state’s aggressive social distancing measures, which are now being enforced by the NYPD, and call for at least six feet between people in public.

The company is currently building an underground gas main underneath Williamsburg and Greenpoint, which residents have opposed, citing risk of explosions, health hazards, higher bills and climate impacts. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3

LETTER CARRIES BALK AT ENTERING WILLIAMSBURG POST OFFICE By Reuven Blau and Ben Fractenberg THE CITY This story was originally published on Friday, March 20 by THE CITY.

Letter carriers refused to enter a Brooklyn post office Friday after a supervisor tested positive for coronavirus, according to a union official. The supervisor of retail operations, who was working at the Metropolitan Station in Williamsburg, was diagnosed Thursday, according to Tom McMenamy, president of American Postal Workers, Local 251, which represents 1,281 clerks and other employees in Brooklyn. “They disinfected the building last night but people are frightened,” he said Friday. “They fear for their safety.” On Friday morning, about 20 letter carriers huddled in the back of the historic two-story building. They wouldn’t go inside, and instead waited for mail to be brought to them in the parking lot for delivery, according to McMenamy. “It sure looks like a job action,” he said. Mail clerks, meanwhile, were working inside the Debevoise Street post office, dealing with customers. CONTINUES ON PAGE 4

The Metropolitan Post Office in Williamsburg was open despite worker concern over coronavirus. Photo by Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

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