Second Ave. residents bemoan blasting

For much of 2010, MTA crews have been blasting away underneath Second Ave. in the East 90s, and the residents have not complained. However, with an unannounced change in the blasting schedule, crews are now detonating charges that are louder than usual later into the evening, and as Dan Rivoli details in Our Town, Upper East Siders are less than pleased with this development. The louder blasts came about because of the need to build starter tunnels, but it’s the time change that has driven residents and local business owners up the walls. “They should let the residents know and keep us informed. Everything is in the dark,” Joe Pecora of the Second Ave. Business Association said. “There’s been a lack of communication between all entities involved.”

For its part, the MTA says that no blasts happen after the city’s cut-off time for work and that this new round of blasting should wrap next month. “This new blast does take longer to prepare and prep for and, in essence, pushes back the blasting later on into the day. But nothing has gone on past 8 p.m.,” Kevin Ortiz, agency spokesman said. Such are the problems of subway construction in a heavily developed area.