From the NY Times:There was little question that someone set fire to a federally owned walk-up apartment building in Brooklyn early Monday, killing a 17-year-old girl and injuring five others.
The questions that remain are why and who.
Investigators were still trying to determine the motive Monday evening. The building was so heavily damaged that it will have to be torn down, officials said.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the building, which in March was cited by the city for dozens of violations, was among 450 troubled buildings that the agency acquired around 2004. Many required extensive repairs.
But of the 450, the department was unable to refurbish 6, including the Harrison Place building, because of difficulties with tenants, department officials said.
The agency has asked the tenants, who have not paid rent since 2004, to move so the building can be fixed. The department has offered to pay for relocation expenses, but the tenants have declined to move, officials said. Several eviction efforts were rejected in Brooklyn housing court.
Since 2004, the department has received several complaints that drugs were being dealt in the building. And the department’s contractors, including a building supervisor and an architect who was trying to develop repair plans, had been rebuffed repeatedly by tenants who would not allow them to enter their units.
In March, city officials did a “roof to basement” assessment of the building, finding 75 violations, including a dozen that were considered immediately hazardous. Among the violations were several for not having working fire and carbon monoxide detectors in apartments. A spokesman for the Fire Department said Monday evening that it was not known whether there were working fire detectors in the building.
17 comments:
Drug dealing "tenants" who haven't paid rent in years - good riddance. Let them burn.
"Anonymous said...
Drug dealing "tenants" who haven't paid rent in years - good riddance. Let them burn."
So, if they paid rent that would be Ok asshole?
i bet ehy were collecting welfare all the while and having more kids and not paying rent
i am sorry someone was killed and others hurt but these types of lowlives need to go
So, I came home to my own apartment a couple of years ago to find my landlord's workers opening painting gasoline on the banisters outside the door of my apartment.
After immediately running in, opening every window in the house and then leaving and notifying the other tenants I called the FDNY who found the gas cans and opened the windows.
When I returned home after spending the night at my sisters, I still smelled gas. He had continued using gas in an occupied building and pouring it down drains. There are homes on all sides of this tenement and the monster involved is still walking the street.
He is one of Monserrate's biggest supporters. That's why we have human barbeques. Not all tenants are bums and not all landlords are decent.
dear anonymous u have no fucking sympathy u asshole people like you go to hell and burn in hell for what u say u ignorant motherfucker who ever u are got the balls to say some shit like this but not big enough to state who u are u chicken shit eat shit and die asshole.
What does this have to do with Queens?
Dear Juju,
At least two or more are anonymously posting here, are you referring to the crackpot who thinks that the poor should burn or do you doubt that there are landlords so depraved that they would chance blowing up several homes for whatever depraved reason is in their mind?
Just curious.
"What does this have to do with Queens?"
Ok, I guess fires, buildings violations and drug dealing are just Brooklyn phenomena. Nope, we can't learn anything from what goes on in other neighborhoods outside of Queens. Let's all stick our heads in the sand and smile.
Wake up, moron.
It was a federally owned building and they couldn't safeguard the people living inside it? DOB has no problem kicking hipsters in the same neighborhood to the curb.
hey juju
what happened? now you lost your apartment you have not paid rent on in 6 years?
sincerely
someone who pays their rent
Red Tape kills again.
dear anonymous u have no fucking sympathy u asshole people like you go to hell and burn in hell for what u say u ignorant motherfucker who ever u are got the balls to say some shit like this but not big enough to state who u are u chicken shit eat shit and die asshole.
AH THE TWEEDED! AH THE TWEEDS!
Some tenants are real creeps, but without fully understanding the situation you cannot know who is at fault.
For example, when tenants refuse to pay it may be because they are thieves or it may be a way to pressure a landlord to fix a violation-riddled building.
I was put in the nasty situation of having to continue to pay rent when my apartment was totally uninhabitable because a landlord knocked my ceiling into the living room.
If I had not done so, I would have lost the right to re-inhabit my apartment when the damage was fixed.
Although there are supposed to be so many laws protecting tenants, I find they are most acccessable to those who don't need them. After all, if you could pay a lawyer thousands, you could afford a better place too, right?
Ok, but the Feds took over this building years ago and when they tried to make repairs, they were shown the door.
The tragedy is that the girl who died didn't even live in the building; she was sleeping over at her friend's home.
the BROOKLYN housing court rejected the evictions.
who were the officials on government salaries, paid by the taxpayers ?
juju, they are the guilty that you should condemn.
LIBERALISM is an illness , and sometimes FATAL.
sorry for the deaths of the occupants.
What does this have to do with my trust fund LUXURY condo at Queens West? Hey?
What does this have to do with my trust fund LUXURY condo at Queens West? Hey?
BECAUSE DIPSH*T WHEN THE R E MARKET BOTTOM FALLS OUT GUESS WHO THEY WILL BE MOVING IN DOWN THE HALLWAY FROM YOU.
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