August 16, 2004
Tattoo By Manhole
In need of an original tattoo design? Park your ass or desired body part on a Con Ed manhole. That's not exactly what Liz Wallenberg did on Wednesday night, but that seemed to be the result. Skateboarding to a friend's show, she hit a bump in the road at 13th St. and 2nd Ave. After landing on the manhole, she felt the heat and then heard some sizzling, "I noticed it was kind of hot, but I didn't realize how bad it was until my skin started to sizzle." Mmm, mmm, nothing quite like burning flesh!
Wallenberg, a Williamsburg resident, said that the doctor at Beth Israel believed that a lot of the burn would scar permanently. She is considering legal action against Con Ed, which is now partially burnt onto her back. Wallenberg, a receptionist and DJ, is described by the Post as a 26 year old skateboarder. Note to the Post from Gothamist: no describing people as skateboarders unless they are Tony Hawk, et al.
Con Ed last came under fire for the death of Jodie Lane when she was electrocuted in the East Village. Gothamist on Jodie Lane.
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Damn, you could fit a whole manhole on those love handles.
cool...it looks all tribal and shit! should be worth about a half-a-mil!
it isn't really any uglier than her tattoos...some people pay good money to get branded, what's she whining about?
wow, ConEd just hates the east village, don't they?
Road rash comes with the territory if you want to be a 26-year-old skateboarder.
the irony is that i burnt my finger after reading about this.
Man, ConEd cannot get a break. I hope she sues for a lot of money. I mean, Jesus, she's got a manhole cover branded on her!
Yeah, she is a fatty isn't she? Nice underwear too.
Well, lets see why she's whining... she got a manhole cover burned into her back...and that does not come with the territory of skating...falling yes.. burned by a manhole no... mabye you would have liked for it to happen to you?
You people making comments about me being fat ...well, you are dumb because, you don't know what i look like and if you did..you would feel stupid.
when you walk out the door in this city you think 'maybe i'll be mugged today, or die in a massive terrorist attack,' but now you have to worry about falling onto a manhole and having 'con ed' burned into your skin.
That is one scary blistering scar, and a serious 3rd degree burn working there. I would want to wish that on any one.
Even skateboards eventually become lawyers or extremely successful in whatever they aspire.
I'd hit it.
some of you are very ignorant and superficial if the only thing you decide to comment on is liz's physical appearance. insecure much?
Is this middle school all over again?
Agreed, commenting on her appearance is tacky. This is some serious stuff here. ConEd has to get their shit together. Being burned by a manhole cover should not be on the list of hazards one has to avoid.
I actually think the burn looks pretty sweet - beats any played-out fake-Maori tribal tats or unreadable Kanji any day of the week. Run with it, lady!
You think Con Ed would try to cover their asses by keeping an eye on those manholes and such after they killed a woman a this winter! I mean, thank goodness this woman is alive. Too bad she's got to deal with another one of those bad lower back pieces...
I saw a guy pouring plastic or hot glass over the a manhole one night on the way home from work. I always wondered about the glassy manholes, and figured they we bring sealed for security reasons. I asked him if that were the case, but he said no, the treatment was because they became so hot in the summer. So I guess they are trying.
Hey, there's a song about Jodie Lane here:
http://www.combustication.net/themarks/music.html
You can probably figure out which one it is.
there must be tens of thousands of manholes in nyc. should they hire an army of manhole inspectors & pass the costs on to us? or pay out a random lawsuit here and there. it's probably cheaper.
manholes cover up some nasty stuff like steam pipes. sometimes, in an aging & crumbling city like ours, one of those steam pipes is gonna leak and a manhole cover will get hot. it's a big city. shit happens. as someone else once said -- "things that are a million-to-one chance of happening happen 8 times a day in NYC."
Metal + hot sun = hot metal.
Do you roll around on subway grates and sue the MTA? This is fucking ridiculous. Remind me to sue Jones Beach next time I burn my feet on the hot sand.
dirtgirl, don't forget, the manholes also keep us away from the chuds!! chuds!!!
AND GHOULIES!
I don't know what kind of damages she could get. Her body's already full of ugly tattoos. The manhole design may be an improvement.
Not the CHUDS!
Edith, youre not supposed to get FUCKING ELETROCUTED from a manhole cover. This has nothing to do with the cover getting hot in the sun or from the steam inside. Whats ridiculous is that ConEd has gotten away with this. One person has already DIED from their negligence, which I would consider manslaughter. They should inspect and fix all the manhole covers and absorb the costs themselves, not passing it on to consumers.
oh shut up. you all did not sit with liz in the ER for 8 hours and watch her suffer. i lost my skateboarding buddy and my going out partner in crime--now I just see her so hurt. and yeah, whoever is calling her fat, i bet you are a sorry sack of dough yourself so shut up. we all fall off the board but we get up, brush off and move on. we are not supposed to get 171 degrees of electrically charged metal (not hot sun) planted on our skin.
liz i'm sorry you have to go through this, get in touch w/me if you need legal advice.
and to all you who'd rather comment on physical appearance and tattoos rather than the serious issue this story points out, i hope you get a clue and realize that someone has died because of this. and instead of con ed doing something about it they're skirting the issue. i'd rather not see your photo on here in a week or so with serious burns while other people post and comment about your appearance.
liz, i wish you the best of luck vs. con ed. let me know how it goes.
I cannot believe how nasty and ridiculous most of the posters are being. I bet you'd all be laughing really fucking hard and cracking bad fat jokes if what happened to Liz happened to your Mother, child, pet, or anyone who was important to you. I am lucky enough to be friends with Liz and contrary to what you fools think she is and was badly hurt. I saw the burns right after she got them and nobody who knew her or didn't thought it was funny or unimportant enough to report. To Edith - you're a moron. It wasn't sunny out. The steam heat was coming from BELOW. Go back to college or find something better to do with your time. And since when did random posters become tattoo experts? What is this VICE magazine??! Commenting on a shitty picture taken by the Post??! C'mon - please find something more relevant to talk about. Don't be hurtful to someone you don't even know.. if it were you - you'd think YOU and your nasty comments suck. Grow up and find something better to do than crack on someone's misfortune. Karma's a bitch you know? P.S. - To the shovanist pricks who made negative remarks about Liz's appearance - the truth of the matter is Liz is really fucking hot, not anywhere near fat and she knows it! Anyone who's ever seen her in person knows it! So try to make jokes that are actually funny because they come from a place of truth. Damn, some of you folks should think about spending less time online. Liz I'm sorry these people suck - I love you and will support you every step of the way!
People need more friends like ChingGoo.
To sit thru the pain, the pain of hospital bureaucratic crap with a friend seriously suffering. 3rd degree burns are no joke, no fun - haven been there family with a family member. Hopefully she didn't have too much deep tissue damage.
World needs more ChingGoo's
it says this happened wednesday night, not at 3pm in the hot sun. and i doubt this woman was rolling around in the middle of the street on a manhole. if people and dogs are dying left and right and people are getting branded for life, con ed needs to figure out a better way to hide the chuds than electric manholes. and, dude, why is everyone going off on some crazy rant about she is fat (uh, no) and i am her friend and blah blah blah... i thought we were talking about this serious situation. save the drama for craigslist or something...
Thanks Evan. ChingGoo is the korean word for friend. I am Liz's ching goo and I know that it sucks for her to read these awful things people are saying about her, people who don't even know her. It's okay though...she gets more pussy than any of these guys anyway and they know it. I guess that's why they're being like this.
Third degree burns suck -- this is a ridiculous unfortunate accident that comes from living in a city that is decomposising. It Sucks. Electrocution sucks. ConEDd legitimately sucks in both situations.
However misplaced the logic in Edith's post was, I tend agree people sue entirely too much in this country -- to the point where when someone has a possible legitimate claim that we are all dismissive. As for all the appearence comments on this thread -- please go back to your linkin park message boards and flame the girl who wouldn't bang you in Hot Topic.
"people sue entirely too much in this country -- to the point where when someone has a possible legitimate claim that we are all dismissive"
Thats just making an excuse for being insensitive and stupid.
I jumped to conclusions; what I read triggered my distaste for needless ligitation, and I stupidly posted a comment without considering all the facts.
Moronic indeed.
Sorry, but skateboarding inherently carries a higher degree of risk (particularly on NYC streets) than dog walking or strolling in your neighborhood.
A fall/skid on the pavement could easily have resulted in serious skin damage and scaring. It reminds me of some of the whitewater rafting cases I’ve read – “oh, I didn’t know there was any real risk involved”.
To compare the Jodie Lane situation to this one is naive.
I’m sorry for her pain. But, if legal action is brought, and I was on that jury, Liz shouldn’t expect any payday.
lets get back to some basic logic here:
while skateboarding does implicitly involve the threat of 'falling' and/or scraping one's skin...last i checked liz was not considering suing for the fact that she fell. also...had she fallen while walking, would you (sheila pay attention) still say that the activity of walking was hazardous as well (it being new york and all), and could result in 'scraping' that the walker is entirely accountable for ...hmm...hospitalization, pain meds, and severe burns ...are not things one must take into account when considering skateboarding or walking. but, ya, lets exonerate con edison, bitch liz out a bit for being a skateboarder, call her out as a display of the american sue - happy epidemic, and maybe throw in a couple of petty and uninformed remarks about her physique and tattoo choice (because that clearly invalidates her case), and neglect to take into account the fact that someone just got branded from a fall that should have resulted in a minor scrape. does the fact that she's hot and also walks frequently help regain her credibility?
HA! man ..some of you are really really bored and insecure. I wish you all well and good health..oh yeah and lets hope you never receive an injury that should not have happened...and that you don't need to go to a plastic surgeon to remove scarring from your beautiful body, and that you don't get fat like me.
liz i love you!
Right on, Liz. Unfortunately, there is too much sneering going on in this culture. And the internet aids that because people can basically sneer and hide. And it's in politics too. Think about it--that is most of George Bush's campaign--sneer and smear and hide the facts. Unfortunately, that works for a significant proportion of the population.
Thanks Lewis - I can't believe it took over 40 comments for someone to finally start building a case to blame this on the Republicans. Jeez - for a minute there, I thought you people were getting soft.
DJ L-TRAIN needs to make some money since i missed work and am not getting paid for it so, I am spinning tomorrow ...@ METROPOLITAN IN WILLIAMSBURG... come see just how fat i am... Can you bounce on my love handles? ......get a $2 beer and find out......559 Lorimer.
dj l train fret not...i'm sure you'll have a love-handle-laden settlement check...if not, i know a good laywer who hooked me up when i was burned when my building caught fire. seriously, you're temping days are over!
I call 'em as I see 'em. Thx, S.
Damn that looks painful...getting burnt is no joke. It sucks so many idiots seem to relate this accident to personal risk taken by an skateboarder. Con Ed sucks they do nothing to protect their customers as we all pay them on the regular but are we safe? I think the answer on that is abundantly clear.
Liz about all the nasty blah blah blah on this site..FORGET IT!! I saw your picture in the post and i thought damn that chic's hot..Where's she been hidden? I know i'll be at that dj night trying to press up on that hot ass.
DJ L-train is a pretty GRIEVOUS DJ name. sheesh.
peece
-DJ RapidlyGentrifyingBushwick
In the "old west" if a rancher put his brand on something unmarked and otherwise unclaimed, he owned it.
Now that she's been branded, is Liz "Property of Con Ed" too?
I'd still fuck her.
I was burned by a manhole cover at the anti-RNC march last month. No joke, I stepped on it, some hot as hell slime splashed on my foot and I got a gross blistery pattern on said foot for a few days. The manholes recently have been covered in some sort of weird hot goo that I haven't noticed before. I work in Midtown and they are all covered in it. You see people dodging them as they cross the street and women in flip flops making "I'm in pain" faces when they step on them.
I know this isn't an issue of national security or as tragic as a gang shoot-out, but has Con Ed made any statement as to what is happening with the covers?
take it like a man.
wow. that sucks. however it does look pretty cool too. im wondering what other tattoos on her body people are talking about...i dont see any. im also very curious about this "goo" they are putting on top of the manholes now. why is this manhole stuff just now starting to be a problem? it seems like they've been there long enough hat stuff like this should have started a long time ago...