[NYguy]

I don't care if it takes 10 years, they better get this build safely and properly. Speaking for myself and all other potential riders.


http://nypost.com/2017/06/25/staten-...ut-of-control/

Staten Island Ferris wheel project is spinning out of control

By Melissa Klein
June 25, 2017

The design team building the 630-foot-high New York Wheel on the borough’s north shore got into a bitter pay dispute with the developer — and walked off the job in late May.

...Court filings revealed other problems threatening to bring the $600 million wheel — which would be the largest in the Western Hemisphere — to a grinding halt. Among them:

- Bad welds on the giant legs that will hold up the wheel have been flagged by city inspectors, delaying ­required approvals.

-The pad upon which the wheel will sit is “defective.”

- A “wrong” attachment between wheel and pad.
 
-Vast cost overruns and “extortionate” billing. The original $300 million price tag has doubled.

...A New York Wheel consultant said in court papers that the city Department of Buildings has yet to issue permits to go forward, a delay he blamed on the choice of manufacturers for the giant legs. The fabricators chosen by Mammoet-Starneth were not on the DOB’s approved list, and inspectors found “nonconformities that required remediation.”

Mammoet-Starneth blames New York Wheel for building a faulty pad to hold the wheel, and in court arguments maintained that there was ­“insufficient soil support and parts that don’t work.”

...A DOB spokesman said its special inspector “identified a minor problem with a few welds” that are in the process of being fixed.

“The developer has honored all of its contractual obligations and is committed to getting this unique project completed to the benefit of all stakeholders, public and private,” said a New York Wheel spokeswoman.