From NY1:The Department of Buildings Thursday issued vacate orders for residents living in a Bushwick building that they say contained illegal apartments.
DOB officials say a four-story commercial building on Broadway in Bushwick was illegally converted into 20 apartments on three seperate floors.
The department issued numerous violations to the building owner, including ones for illegal plumbing and not having a sprinkler system.
The building is now locked and nobody is being allowed in. Residents say they were given no warning this was coming.
The C of O says the building has 6 legal dwelling units.
26 comments:
Crappy, envy doesn't become you. These aren't hipsters. They are young kids starting out in life who were swindled and then flung out into the street.
I know of many of us who have had our buildings illegally and improperly altered. We are waiting for the collapse or the sudden knock that moves us into the street.
Damn. You figured me out. I envy Bushwick people who live in illegal apartments 1/3 of the size of what they are supposed to be with illegal plumbing.
I've been inside some of those illegal Bushwick art studio/apartments near Montrose Ave..
Residents often throw underground (serving booze etc.) parties to help raise the next month's rent.
It's sad to see that NYC doesn't offer much to these "kids" in the way of reasonable rents but the living condition in some of these artist communes is downright dangerous.
Better to be kicked to the curb than be carried out as a burn victim on a gurney...or far worse...in a body bag to a waiting mortuary van!
Do their parents know about their children's digs or even bother visiting them to check them out?
Irresponsible behavior has no age limit.
IF THESE ARENT HIPSTERS then I dont know what is.
I lived there for 10 years. I am 39 years old. I run a huge photography studio in NYC and work 15 plus hours a day. I have never thrown a "rent party"
Illegal plumbing is regular plumbing put in by a non certified plumber.. guess what you might have the same in your walls.
Sorry people being evicted in the heat of an early summer morning with no notice dont look professional enough for you guys. I might have put on my suit but had to search in a panic for my passport and birth certificate instead.
How do you look at your house on your day off? I was at work already when they came to kick us out, as where 75% of the people who cant get back into their HOMES. Whats up with with everyone being so judgmental?
We are citizens just like you that got seriously screwed over unlawful landlords. How about some compassion?
Well now they are homeless and i guess they qualify for one of those 1 way tickets.
Do you folks not understand that the C of O was for 6 apartments and there were 20 here? We're talking 1905 tenement conditions. And yesterday morning was quite cool.
How would you know the conditions? My apartment is over 2000 square feet with 11 floor to ceiling windows. A palace to most. There are 3 building that where opened into 1 and all the lofts are amazing.
You have nothing factual or helpful to contribute coupled with no compassion.... charming.
What do you think is higher in population? Illegal renters in that building, or lice in the beard of that douche in the picture?
"DOB officials say a four-story commercial building on Broadway in Bushwick was illegally converted into 20 apartments on three seperate floors."
I guess that wasn't factual enough.
Hey now I am beginning to understand why power fails and streets flood after strong rain. Too many people living in the underground, not enough infrastructure.
But I do agree that I am much happier to know these things will be fixed, my dear friends and co tenants wont be carried out on gurneys due to missing fire safely precautions and the landlords will be brought to trial by our tenant union.
Illegal plumbing is regular plumbing put in by a non certified plumber..
[no illegal plumbing is just that, plumbing not up to code or put in by someone unqualifed]
guess what you might have the same in your walls
[no i dont].
Sorry people being evicted in the heat of an early summer morning with no notice dont look professional enough for you guys.
[its a cool summer and august is late summer]
I might have put on my suit but had to search in a panic for my passport and birth certificate instead.
[eh?]
How do you look at your house on your day off? I was at work already when they came to kick us out, as where 75% of the people who cant get back into their HOMES.
[homes to you, illegal crowded apartments that is exhibit #1 as to why power grids fail - having no juice because of you is exhibit #1 on why you piss me off]
Whats up with with everyone being so judgmental?
[see above - four times the garbage that should be in front of the buildings is another big plus, too]
We are citizens just like you that got seriously screwed over unlawful landlords.
[ignoring the law sets you up sonny, now step up to the plate and take you medicine like a big boy]
How about some compassion?
[how about zero population growth?
bike lanes, tower people looking down on me and squeezeing resources from my community is not the way to win votes in these parts]
:: shrugs :: I dont care either way about this. Alot of people judge these kids.... and although I dont put much thought into it, if your mad about them being judged, you have to remember this: Alot of these little semi-hipster kats are from out of state, going to school or trying to find work in NYC. I dunno why these people dont read up on whats going on, but NYC is expensive and overcrowded. Move the fuck out of NY if you dont like it. I've been here all my life and have a huge apartment with no problems because I did not chose to leave my hometown before I had my shit together. If you want to "live the dream" then you gotta take what comes with it and that includes trying to squeeze into neighborhoods that people are clamoring to profit from because of gentrification. Compassion is an expensive commodity in this city. Noone cares about where the fuck it is until they need it. These kids are blind to the world until shit like this happens then everyone is up in arms about it... its been going on for puertoricans blacks and the polish for decades
My point is that the landlord is a thief and a crook who endangered these kids lives. I don't want them insulted because someone ripped them off. I would happily cook their landlord in a big pot and serve him to rats if I could.
I just want to know why the city took action on this building, while the illegal conversion - and continuing illegal construction work - on 239 Banker continues unabated. Brokers are in front of that building every day. More and more people are going in and out of that building every day. That elevator is an accident waiting to happen. I don't want to know what the egress is like, and I imagine that the kids living there haven't stopped to figure out how they would get out of the building in a fire.
But it's in Greenpoint, so the city's going to turn a blind eye and say things like "INSPECTOR COULD NOT ACCESS BUILDING" even though you can see air conditioners, flower boxes, and window treatments. It's clear people are living there.
its the landlords fault for letting green real estate agents do the lying for them....greed greed greed ...they think people are ATM machines
Wow, what a bunch of judgmental prigs. What is with the "kids" label? I also lived in that building for 2 years in 2000, I am 36, trust fundless, and educated myself by putting myself through school.
No one, including myself, was aware that is wasn't up to code. That was never discussed during the interview or signing of the lease. My friend who has lived in that apartment for 10 years is correct. How in the hell does anyone truly know what their landlord is up to? If the plumbing is up to code, who put it in, if the fire code is correct?
And as for that "douche" with the beard. He is a man, in his mid-thirties, with a Master's Degree, who put himself through college and passes stools smarter than you.
I have never met any hipsters who live in this building. Everyone I know is in their 30s and 40s and are anything but hipsters.
Judgmental A$$HOLES! This truly could happen to any of you.
Very simple. You look up the C of O. You look up how many units the place is authorized to have. Then you count.
Yes, I'm sure all New York tenants take trips down to City Hall to look up their buildings C of O when they have had no reason to suspect something foul.
Everyone is one step from the street in NYC. Yes, including everyone who has commented on this blog. Just remember that when you're on the Greyhound headed for your parent's home on your 40th birthday.
You can look them up online. In fact, I linked to the one for this building in this post.
Excuse FAILS.
Who is using excuses? There was no reason to inquire. Simple. There were no tell-tale signs that warranted this.
My friend has lived their for 10 years without any problems with the building or landlord. Why would she investigate the plumbing. Who does that?
Besides, the property was broken up as two properties 3 Belvidere and the Broadway address. She receives her mail and rent invoice at the Belvidere address. So inquiring into the Broadway C of O would have made no sense. Stop blaming the victims!
I suppose, Kitty Genovese had it coming too?
It's your responsibility to investigate a place before you move in. It is the landlord's responsibility ultimately for the problems in the building, but being ignorant is not an excuse. And illegal plumbing is not what shut this place down. It was a six-unit building converted into 20 units.
"And as for that "douche" with the beard. He is a man, in his mid-thirties, with a Master's Degree, who put himself through college and passes stools smarter than you.
I have never met any hipsters who live in this building. Everyone I know is in their 30s and 40s and are anything but hipsters."
If that guy in the photo is not the epitome of an inbred hipster yuppie transplant then I don't know what is. And the fact that you're all 'in your 30s and 40s' just makes the situation even more pathetic. Any grown adult who voluntarily puts himself into such a living situation (probably paying exorbitant rent too) just to live in a 'trendy' neighborhood can't have more than two brain cells to rub together.
Why don't you try giving up the Brooklyn transplant Peter Pan act, start taking care of your responsibilities like an adult, and grow the hell up. No one forced you 'gifted' clowns to follow the hipster-yuppie Pied Piper here from Pennsatucky just to act like spoiled children in a neighborhood full of actual working people who are struggling to get by. The only people who take you seriously are yourselves. Trust me.
why feel sorry for these morons? Most have rich parents who will fix everything just right for them. The rest are simply morons who have learned a lesson
The "anonymous" hater troll on here is this loser who goes by the handle "parkslopeyuppytoilet" who also frequently comments on the www.diehipster.com site. If you google him, you'll see that he does nothing but write negative comments about topics like this 24/7. There are literally HUNDREDS of references to his posts. He's nothing more than a borderline mentally unstable social reject who hates everyone and everyone, and nothing he says can be taken seriously. He also has a collection of dubious youtube videos from what I've heard. There is clearly something missing in his life for him to feel the need to do this all day and night.
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