NEW YORK (AP) – All around New York City, mammoth cranes fill the city skyline. They’re erecting dozens of skyscrapers in a building boom that’s changing the city’s skyline.
On Manhattan’s West Side, two developments are quickly rising – Manhattan West and Hudson Yards.
An Associated Press crew was hoisted 50 floors up to meet the men who operate one of these steel giants from a tiny glass cab – a fishbowl suspended high in the sky.
Tommy Gambardella says his job requires calm and confidence.
Each day before dawn, his hands are on the joysticks that bring the crane alive. And even after two decades on the job, he still has a fire in his belly atop cranes that can be dangerous if something goes wrong.
Recent accidents have brought new attention to crane safety.