The Strain of New York City Cranes

It's not unusual for New Yorkers to keep a narrow focus when moving around the city.

But since the recent deadly crane collapses in the city, I woke up and started counting the number of construction cranes I see daily.

G and I have been surrounded by construction for years. When we lived in Brooklyn, we watched the Brooklyn Law School dormitory go up a few feet behind us, stopping just short of blocking our Verrazano Bridge view from our 11th floor apartment. (Residents on lower floors weren't so lucky.)

An apartment building rose across the street and another one was built on the next block, on the corner of Atlantic and Court. A new courthouse three blocks away and a number of other projects surrounded us. Just as construction was wrapping up, we sold our apartment.

Fast forward to Battery Park City and watch the amount of construction increase exponentially. The towering monstrosity going up on the other side of the World Financial Center was the site of two accidents. A white dinosaur of a crane sticks far out of the big hole in the ground that was the World Trade Center. I walk by a half-built building and its crane companion, rising taller every day behind the Marriott Hotel.

Yesterday, a new ferry terminal floated into place on Vesey Street and now there is a tall crane lodged in the view from my living room window.

Suddenly I notice the cranes, more and more, taller and taller. Have they been there all along?