About
Mr. Gumbinner 2 Ashburton building built
When
Joe Roth was supervising the construction of the 12,000 sq. ft.
building at 2 Ashburton Ave., I told him the contractor had not put
reinforcing rods in the foundation. The contractor then took a
barrel of nails and spread them through the concrete. When we bought
the lot at 137 Alexander St., in 1968, I had Joe Roth design the
building with the main entrance on the river side not the street.
This had a number of advantages: the racks of stencils and skids of
plates could be moved across the street and up the ramp into the
factory, the offices on the second floor had windows that overlooked
the Hudson River and Palisades, and visitors could park near the
entrance. Our insurance company made us raise the floor level 2 feet
to provide for a possible 100 year record flood. The Hudson River at
Yonkers being a tidal river never floods in the usual sense but at
high tide with hurricane force winds the water can be blown over the
banks. This happened twice during my lifetime but the water was less
than three inches deep. Because this land was on ashes which had
been dumped in the river, Joe Roth had three eight inch steel pipes
driven 110 to 125 feet down to the bed rock and filled with concrete
where they formed the base of the columns and used grade beams. The
floor was not on piles so over the years it sunk several inches. I
had a wood end block floor installed in the factory area so we could
shore up any machinery if the floor sunk unevenly. The staircase to
the upper offices was suspended so it just required a little patching
for appearance when the floor sunk.
When
TOSCA and OSHA regulations became law, I took the responsibility to
study them and ensure that we complied with the requirements. The
inspectors who came to our plants only saw inconsequential matters
such as having us put a railing in the middle of the front steps.
One inspector made us lower the fire extinguishers in the plant.
Another inspector had us put them back at the initial locations since
the skids of materials blocked the lower level. When going around
with the inspectors, I notice things which the operators were doing
which I considered might cause an injury and had them corrected but
were not noticed by the OSHA inspectors.