Saturday, May 21, 2011

Retired firefighter owns firetraps

From the Daily News:

For years, landlord John Mayo was cited repeatedly for renting out illegal apartments - just the kind that fire officials deem dangerous death traps.

City inspectors hit his buildings again and again with violations, including citations for apartments with no second exits and a blocked fire escape.

What makes Mayo's case different from the average accused slumlord is this: Mayo is a retired New York City firefighter.

Since 2005, the city has repeatedly cited four of Mayo's South Bronx buildings for illegal apartments or SROs, missing and defective smoke detectors, exposed electrical wires, apartments with no second egress, even a blocked fire escape, records show.

Since 2007, when Mayo retired from the FDNY, three rowhouses he owns on one Bronx block have been the subject of 15 illegal apartment complaints, including two this month. One building has 150 outstanding housing-code violations, records show.

Residents on the block say Mayo turned the buildings into illegal boarding houses that are potential firetraps - a growing concern since a fire in an illegal Bronx SRO last month killed a 12-year-old and his parents.

As a former firefighter, neighbors say, Mayo should know all about the dangers of illegal apartments.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a former firefighter, neighbors say, Mayo should know all about the dangers of illegal apartments.

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As a former firefighter you would think he knew how to milk the system and would be able to circumvent the law.

NYPD.... FDNY.... Traffic agents, etc... they're all scumbag Unvirtuous people who only care for themselves. And it shows.

Anonymous said...

FDNY-Milking 9/11 for all its worth.

Anonymous said...

Are we supposed to be surprised by this? This is NYC. It's all about the money and the scammers.

Anonymous said...

His FDNY pension should be pulled for this1

But it won't be.

The notorious Tommy Huang (alleged Flushing arsonist/developer) once had the balls to hire an FDNY fire marshal to "advise" him.

For exactly what?

How to successfully start a blaze that would go undetected as arson?

H-m-m-m!

Anonymous said...

I remember him back in the early 80s....all those suspicious conflagrations on Main Street.

Some residents called him "Tommy the torch" back then.

Anonymous said...

So regardless - where and why is the city not shutting it down? Waiting for the 1st death?