The 200 residents of a Williamsburg loft booted from their homes yesterday because of a fire-code violation left their apartments - bags, boxes and containers in hand - not knowing when, or if, they would be back.Fire code forces Brooklyn residents from homes
Although renters have lived in the building for a decade, it lacks a certificate of occupancy, which allows for the legal use and occupancy of a building. Fixing the fire hazard and obtaining the certificate may be a lengthy process.
Fire officials ordered tenants of 475 Kent Ave. to leave Sunday evening after finding out that grain for a basement matzo factory owned by building co-owner Nachman Brach was improperly stored and "an explosive hazard."
More from the NY Times:
City Evacuates 11-Story Building in Brooklyn, Citing Safety
For Evacuated Building’s Tenants, an Uncertain Future
7 comments:
Well, the timing of this isn't remotely suspicious--Sunday night of a holiday weekend--just the exact time one typically finds activity co-ordinated amongst innumerable city agencies!
It's easy enough to rag on these people for being hipsters, like with last year's Ridgewood incident, but just who is shoving 200 people out on the street on the coldest night of the year? And how can a landlord rent such a structure illegally for years without impunity? Wait, I know the answer to that one already.
The owner should be fined and repay previously collected rent to the renting dwellers. The owner knows what he has - he is not a country bumpkin - he's out to make plenty of money illegally.
What took the city so long to catch up with this owner? Perhaps Fire Marshalls should be given a stake in reviewing buiding CO when firefighters who know their territories best point out all of the illegal and dangerious situations. Firefighters risk the most after tenents in fires - why not? Fire Marshalls are beyond reproach and represent law enforecment to prevent criminal activity that can cause injury and fatalities to the public at large and their own folks fighting fires.
And turn the IRS after them too! 10 to 1, there was no reporting of this rental income.
Some of these hipsters probably have huge trust funds and have only been playing at being poor to lead apparent lives as "starving artists." Right now they're probably sipping lattes, brought to them by butlers in some penthouse suite of theirs on Madison as we sit here sympathizing over their plight.
No sympathy here folks.
Another bunch of smarty-ass hipsters......
too dumb to read the fine print.
Self -loving "higher end"
NYC fire code violating squatters.
And you all thought you were smarter
and better than us working class Joes!
Now that "Le Artistes" have been cleared out......
the building can now be gutted
and legally converted into luxury live in lofts
for Manhattan's overflowing "professional" population.
NYC's commercial slumlords thank you dummies....
for providing all those rent $$$$$$$$ in the meantime!
I'm with Kingofnycabbies, who said all these people are "rich". Maybe some of them are young and broke. Are they all supposed to be burned to death or flung into the street?
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