Boar’s Head: The Beefy Bullies of Bogart Street
If you have a set of eyes, you see the trucks. On the stretch of Bogart Street, between Flushing Avenue and the “main street” of Bogart (Ad Hoc, Archive, Brooklyn’s Natural), there is a two-block facility, which includes a small parking lot. It’s the Boar’s Head Provision Company. 24 Rock Street is the address. And the street itself is rumored to be owned by Boar’s Head. How they got the city to sell them a street is, well, a statement to the money and power we’re talking about here.
They’ve owned the two square blocks since the late 1940’s, been around since 1905. They’re older than the FBI. A national institution. Provides jobs, caters (ha ha) to NYC’s huge food consumption, and stimulates the economy. So what’s my beef (ha ha ha)?
If you’re blessed enough to walk the street from Sunday evening to Friday mid-day, you’ll see trucks from Boar’s Head and independently owned rigs parked on the sidewalk, on our sidewalks, idling. You want to see the most-ignored sign in all of New York? It’s NY State’s “no engine idling for more than 5 minutes” sign. It’s illegal to park on the sidewalk. It damages the sidewalk, ultimately the responsibility of the person who owns the property it borders. The guy who owns the lot with the Santa in it can tell you; he’s not a huge fan. They offered him a fortune for that lot and he turned them down. Bad blood? He’s sued them to fix his sidewalks and they keep fixing them, breaking them and fixing them.
So it’s illegal to idle all night long. It’s an environmental nightmare. They also hit every street sign out there, twisting the metal around the pole. Who pays for that?
So call the cops, write the mayor, demand action? Wrong. There is no accountability. I don’t know if it’s the Teamsters, the mafia, the powers that be are involved. The cops won’t ticket, even though the situation could be a cash cow. The drivers are independent contractors, so there’s no way to take Boar’s Head to task…
This is an outfit that should be housed in a huge warehouse with a gigantic parking lot, keeping the whole thing consolidated and private. Out of the public’s space. Instead, as they grow, as the city grows, the situation is bound to become worse. And we’re in no position to change it.
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Let me tell you about another outrage - Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn- cars driving everywhere, stores, cafes, restaurants - crowds of people jostling me and clogging the sidewalks - this whole thing should be in a huge building somewhere, with a giant parking lot! They could call it, a Mall for Shoppers, or something.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I swear there are some vacant warehouses in Maspeth…
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Ah Will, you’re a dick. thanks for that.
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Industry is what you get when you move to a neighborhood full of factories and warehouses. It is like moving to Kansas and complaining about the farms.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Well guys, what I meant to start a discussion on was money and power being above to law - to the denigration of the environment and, specifically, our neighborhood.
If you want to defend money and power, and you do it constructively, I will respect you and whatever arguments you drum up.
If you are baseless and retarded, and completely unstructured in your comments and opinions, I’ll ignore you. Because, well, I left Junior High about 17 years ago.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Ha, I was feeling guilty for being so snarky but I don’t feel so bad now, since I’m being called baseless & retarded and unstructured in my comments (that really hurt).
Boars Head could be a better neighbor, I get that. But you implied that they shouldn’t even be in the neighborhood. I don’t get that. Boars Head provides jobs to inner city residents - that’s a good thing. They are in an industrial zone, they just shouldn’t idle their trucks and they should probably stay off the sidewalk. I don’t see that much to get outraged about. Unless you are vegetarian.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
Okay Will, we’re on the same page. I agree completely - moving doesn’t make sense. Those are basically gigantic refridgerators and there is very little you can convert them into -
However -
Boars Head is going to grow. And it’s going to become cra-a-a-a-a-azy. Like, accidents and power lines and insane traffic.
So I suggest that they should move, or at least have a remote site to take some of the weight off. It’s got to happen eventually - and I’m just talking here.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
what makes you think they are going to expand, if they’ve been there since 1930’s and have made use of that space since then?
September 6th, 2008 at 10:08 am
NYC is going to grow coco. Everything else will grow with it.