Last week, we posted photos of a scary situation at 40 Berry Street in Williamsburg, where a luxury rental building partly bankrolled by Lehman Brothers and the California State Teachers Retirement System is going up. A shoddy wooden fence opening to a two story drop into a mud pit was ajar, dirt was crumbling into the hole and the sidewalk was cracked. The gate opening into the pit is still there, but it’s been nailed shut with wood and a barricade has been placed in front of it. Asphalt has been placed in the crumbling sidewalk. We still wonder why the Department of Buildings allows a developer to maintain a gate that opened to a two-story deep excavation site, and why trashy, cheap construction that falls over when someone blows on it is allowed, but at least someone now has to work to get access to the 40 Berry Mud Pit of Death.

Here’s another shot of the pit at 40 Berry, in which barrels that strongly resemble those in which unpleasant waste is put can be seen. It also reveals an interesting look at the foundation of the building next door.