From The Villager
Chelsea barge's power cut following murder at a dance
By: Albert Amateau
August 11, 2002
Pier 63 Maritime, the public-access barge where a man attending a party on July 23 was shot to death, had its electricity cut off a week later after a complaint from a near neighbor on the Chelsea waterfront.
Con Edison cut off electric power to the barge on July 31 after members of the multi-agency Mayor's Task Force made an inspection and found several electric code violations.
The inspection visit was no surprise to John Krevey, who owns the Pier 63 Maritime barge, which is home to the former lightship Frying Pan and the decommissioned fireboat John J. Harvey.
The day after the shooting, David Tewksbury, in charge of operations at the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment complex on Piers 59-62, had vowed on a NY 1 television news interview that he would ask the city to close the barge, saying it was "a bad neighbor."
However, Krevey, who maintains the Pier 63 barge on the north side of Basketball City as a public dock and until the shooting had rented it out for parties on Monday and Thursday nights, said that except for two incidents last month, events at the barge were orderly.
Moreover, he contended that the major violations written up by the city task force were unjustified and that the Con Edison cutoff was virtually unprecedented.
"The electrical inspector said we had a wire dangling in the water, but I pulled it out and showed him it was a hose," Krevey said. "Then he said we had an electric feeder cable exposed on the barge, but I told him it was an old temporary cable. I cut right through it in front of him and if it had current in it, I'd be dead.
It didn't seem to make any difference because he kept them both as violations." Krevey said a Department of Environmental Protection inspector even put green dye down a toilet to check on any sewage line violation, "but they couldn't find any."
Krevey, who runs an electrical contracting business, R2 Electric, from the barge, added, "Nobody ever gets their electricity cut off unless it's an emergency. We've taken care of thousands of violations on the Lower East Side. People get time to fix them, that's why they hire us." He acknowledged that some minor violations were found and he is in the process of correcting them.
But despite the electricity cutoff, the barge has been operating for the past two weeks with power temporarily supplied by a generator on Frying Pan.
Krevey said he would not protest the violations. "We'll fix the ones we have and then ask for another inspection. Hopefully Con Ed will turn the electricity back on," he said.
Regarding the "bad neighbor" accusation, Krevey said he has canceled the series of Monday and holiday reggae theme parties booked by John Shop Records. "The shooting didn't even happen on the barge; it was on the bulkhead between Pier 63 and 64," he said.
The shooting was the second recent violent incident attributed to parties on the barge. A man was stabbed there during a July 4 party, according to Detective Robert Cusack of the 10th Precinct. The barge had not previously been a subject of police attention, Cusack said.
Pier 63 Maritime has been paying rent for the past few years to Basketball City, the prime holder of the New York State permit, for the right to be moored on the north end of Pier 63. Under a subtenant agreement, Basketball City shares proceeds from parties on the barge. "They've agreed to a rent reduction while we're working on the violations," said Krevey.
While nighttime parties have been canceled, Krevey said, the barge is still available for evening events like the Aug. 25 barbecue sponsored by the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club.
Chelsea Piers' Tewksbury could not be reached for comment by press time.
©The Villager 2003
