This tax-funded rehab is all wet.
Despite a nearly half-billion dollar makeover that includes a “green” roof covered in grass, the Javits Center still can’t manage to fix a problem that’s been plaguing it for years — leaks.
In just one section of the Javits, The Post last week counted dozens of tarps affixed to the convention center’s ceiling, elaborately MacGyvered to rubber hoses snaking into blue collection barrels.
“They are getting a little more covert about hiding their embarrassment,” said a Javits insider. “It used to be a garbage pail with an open top.”
At one point, there was so much liquid draining into the barrels that workers worried about stagnant water and the possible threat of West Nile virus — from mosquitoes breeding inside the tacky trash buckets.
The four-year-long, $465 million expansion and renovation of the center — paid for with New York’s hotel-occupancy tax — includes the second-largest green roof in the country, a 6.75-acre marvel the center breathlessly tweeted about last November.
But claims of the “New Javits” don’t seem to hold water just yet.
“Our feet are going ‘squish, squish’ on the carpet,” said the source, who works at the center, adding that leaks have continued in freshly painted areas opened to the public that have supposedly been “fixed.”
“It’s a taxpayer-funded, $200 million, new leaky roof — we working guys pay and pay taxes for these government fiascoes!”
Sources said the convention center has battled a leaky roof for years.
“They notoriously have a problem whenever it rains,” said Lisa Krowinski, whose employer, Sapling Press, exhibits annually at the center.
“It’s just a nuisance . . . when you have a garbage can collecting water in the middle of your booth.”
Officials said the purpose of the rehab is to finally fix the leaks.
“There have been no recent reports of any roof issues,” said Javits spokesman Tony Sclafani. “The Javits Center is undergoing the final stages of a comprehensive renovation project to upgrade the entire facility.” The roof is 80 percent complete, and the entire rehab should be done this year, he added.