Councilmember Phil Wong and his staff clashed with contractors at a planned battery storage center.
BY PATRICK STACHNIAK
MIDDLE VILLAGE — Tensions have flared once more over a proposed battery energy storage system (BESS) in Middle Village, during a chaotic week that saw the energy company and the district’s council member ac- cuse each other of foul play.
The controversy erupted on Wednesday, July 1, when a partial stop work order from the Department of Buildings was issued. That morning, City Councilmember Phil Wong and several of his staff members began arguing with construction workers at the planned site of the facility, 64-30 69 Place, while trying to record them. During the dispute, Wong alleges that one of the workers “shoved” a staffer.
Wong and his team returned the next day, July 2, saying they intended to monitor whether the order was being followed. Another argument broke out: Wong accused the contractors of continuing construction in violation of the order, while the workers claimed they were carrying out its legal requirement that they secure the area of safety hazards such as open pits, and that Wong’s staff was trespassing on the site.
Based on footage released by Wong’s office, the confrontation ended when a staff member, Bernard Chow, seemingly wrapped his arm around one worker in an attempt to film through a barrier’s window. Both fell to the ground and Chow sustained an injury to the back of his head. Wong posted on social media that the worker “alleg- edly tackled” Chow to the ground, who spent the night in the hospital.
Wong also criticised the contractor, who is employed by GA Industries, for allegedly directing a racist comment towards Chow before the fall.
The official police report stated nei- ther individual “required medical at- tention” and the pair “pulled on each other before falling to the ground.” No arrests were made, but the investiga- tion remains open.
“For two days in a row, a coun- cil member’s staff disrupted an active construction site where a foundation work permit had been lawfully issued by the Department of Buildings,” said a spokesperson from NineDot Energy, the company behind the BESS project. “His staff attempted to access this site by forcibly crossing the safety barriers, accosting and verbally abusing on- site construction personnel, blocking heavy duty equipment, and generally putting themselves and others at risk.”
Wong disputed that account. “In two days, a member of my staff has allegedly been assaulted while simply documenting activity from a public sidewalk,” he said in a statement. “We don’t need shady contractors illegally working on a construction site and then trying to intimidate public ser- vants.”
On July 1, the DOB received a com- plaint from 311 after an inspector gave GA Industries the greenlight earlier that week. The new inspector issued the stop work order to the contrac- tors for performing earthwork “out of scope” of their permits by using an ex- cavator to dig out the foundation.
After the order was issued, a NineDot spokesperson stated that on July 2 workers were complying with the order and attempting to clean up the site for safety be- fore ceasing construction for the holiday weekend when a second complaint was made. This included moving dirt/ rubble and building a “utility vault” underground to store equipment, which the DOB stated was also unpermitted and issued a violation after receiving another 311 call.
“Once we have clarifica- tion from [DOB] and the go ahead, we fully expect to restart construction,” stated the NineDot spokesperson on the “confusion.”
The clash occurred during a massive heat wave that brought temperatures over 100 degrees. In Queens alone, 10,000 homes lost power due to overload on the grid and
three New Yorkers died. According to Joe Calvello, Mayor Zohran Mam- dani’s press secretary, all three died in their homes due to heat-related illness- es, though their names have not been released.
Facilities like NineDot’s hold an array of batteries that are sealed in fire-proof containers. The batteries are charged at night, when energy demand is lower, and Con Ed deploys it during the day during peak demand or over- load, stopping blackouts and brown- outs during heatwaves. According to a NineDot spokesperson, their finished projects provided over 26,000 house- holds throughout the city with electric- ity last summer.
The confrontation with the construction workers isn’t the first time the District 30 office has visited the site. In a February protest, Wong stated the facilities have the capability to “burn down the whole neighborhood.” Wong reiterated his fiery concerns again at a protest he held in June, where his staff handed out signs reading “NineDot Hates Children” due to its location across the street from PS/IS 128.
Of the 7,500 BESS that are op- erational in the state, only three have caught fire — a failure rate of 0.04%. Per public data, the likelihood that any household or apartment in the City catches fire (due to inattentive cooking or faulty wiring, for example) is approximately 0.8%.
In a press release, Wong condemned the behaviour of the contractors and stated that the facility has faced widespread opposition from many in the neighborhood, including “nearby schools… and residents.”
Wong has proposed that NineDot move its facility to one of two alternate sites: 46-46 Metropolitan Avenue or 56-61 56th Terrace, near Clinton Hall Palace. The company rejected both lo- cations, citing logistical concerns.
After months of opposition against the facility from Wong’s office, the PTA of PS/IS 128 uninvited Wong’s deputy chief of staff, Alicia Vaichunas, from attending future meetings after she reportedly demanded that the association make a public announcement against the facility and accused several members of taking money from NineDot.
In the past two years, no parent or guardian who attended a meeting has brought forward a motion concerning the NineDot facility.
But the plot has thickened even further since the work site altercations. On July 6, an unknown vandal broke two windows of Wong’s office in Maspeth, with Wong claiming that the owner of the building had received an anonymous threat that more windows would be smashed if “that Council office wasn’t controlled.”
“This comes just days after one of my staff members was allegedly as- saulted on two consecutive days while performing official duties,” said Wong, tacitly linking the vandalism to the earlier incidents.
The building has several security cameras, though footage has not yet been released by either Wong’s office, the property owner or the 104th Precinct. Despite the destruction of property, Wong stated that “threats, intimi- dation and violence” will not stop him from “serving District 30.”
