NYC Squat Building demolished (#2 update from usenet)
Posted by TenantNet on February 22, 1997 at 15:41:52:
Squatter Building Razed
despite judge's order
BY JOSH ROGERS
Less than 24-hours after a fire burned part of a city-owned building
occupied by squatters last Sunday, the city declared the building unsafe and
had most of it demolished, in violation of a judge's order.The temporary
restraining order to stop the demolition at 537-539 E. 5th St. was issued by
Judge Barbara Kapnick at 6:13 p.m. on Feb. I 0, but even when the squatters
andtheir attorney started waving the order at the demolition crews, the work
continued. "This is illegal, what they're doing" the squatters attorney
Jackie Bukowski shouted. "The police are not upholding the law." The scene
of squatters protesting outside of their home was reminiscent of the larger
squatter eviction on E. 13th St. in 1995. This time, fewer people are
affected, about 25, and the protests have so far been smaller, with only
three arrests. Also, the squatters on 13th St. still have buildings to fight
for, as they are hoping the courts will rule they own the buildings even
though the Appellate Court has pen-nitted the city to renovate the buildings
while the case is pending. With the building on 5th St. now mostly destroyed, the squatters -- who the
city maintains occupy buildings illegally -- are going to file a motion to
hold the city in contempt,andwillprobablysuefordamages, including the
possessions they were not allowed to recover. Cassandra Vernon, a
spokesperson for the city Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development,
which issued the demolition order, said, "The demolition had already
started." She said it would not have ben safe at that point to stop and let
people get their things. "We couldn't leave the building in a situation
like this, hence the demolition continued," she added. The day of the demolition, her office issued a statement which said: "rhe
NYC Dept. of Buildings inspected and deemed the building in imminent danger
of collapse. It issued an emergency demolition order..." Architect John
Shuttleworth, who is a member of Community Board 3, was very skeptical the
fire had caused that much damage, after observing the building immediately
after the fire on Feb. 9, and during the demolition the next day.
"I saw no charring, I saw no fracture of the beams," he said. "I saw
nothing in the long section of the beams, which were damaged. It seemed
like these guys rushed to Lake it down and did it." Shuttleworth said he has
worked on about eight similar buildings which have been restored after a
fire, and many more which were too damaged to be restored. He said
he also spoke to Buildings Dept. inspector, Michael Sieburt, who confirmed
his assessment. He said Sieburt told
him: 'They looked at it quickly,and H.P.D. wanted to take it down ... I said
it didn't look like it was in danger of collapse. He said, 'well it's a
discretionary takedown.' It's tough to aroue with that." The judge
"continued" her temporary restraining order and ordered the city not to
remove any debfis until the squatters aregiven a chance to try and recover
their belongings. At the hearing, the city's lawyer called a buildings
Dept. engineer. Ha@,ev Feinstein to the stand. He had only inspected the
building that dav. Feb. 11, after most of the demolition was completed.
He said the building, which is still standing in the back, is now unsafe to
enter. The engineer who said the building was in "imminent danger" was not
called. The fire started at around 4 p.m. on Sunday at 537 E. 5th St. and
the demolition crane was on the scene by Monday morning. The building
between Avenues A and B is connected to 539 E. 5th via a stair case.
Demolition was thwarted twice during the day as squatters tried to reenter
the building. One, Bradley Will, 26, hid out in the building most of the
day in order to stop the demolition. Will said the fire started in his
apartment, and both he and Capt. Thomas Lawrence, commanding officer of
the Ninth Precinct, said it was caused by a space heater. The fire department
said no cause has been determined. On two occasions, the demolition proceeded for
a short time while Will was still in the building, according to several
witnesses who saw him appear on the roof. "I climbed out on the roof, and
the wrecking ball continued to stfike," he said. The first time he felt
something, he said: "I clung to the wall, I cried... I started to cry and
[expletive] run to a phone."Most of the time he hid out in adjoining 535 E.
5th St., which was abandoned long ago after a fire. He said because 535 is
unsafe, the police were afraid to chase him into that building, which now
has also been demolished. Roger Varela's two dogs, Emma and Anakin, died in the fire. That night, he
was allowed back into the building to look for them, but he wasn't allowed
to remove them. He said he walked all through the building, and "The only
damage was to the very front of the building." He and others testified they
saw police and city officials go through the building on Monday morning
without wearing hard hats. He and Nathan MacDonald were arrested Monday
morning when they tried to recover his dogs' bodies. Another tenant, Jason
Fitzsirrunons, said his cat Boris has ben missing since the fire. He said
his stereo equipment, which he uses to make a living as a D.J., is somewhere
in the rubble Capt. Lawrence said his officers "got out all they could
get," but the squatters complained most of the stuff was left in the
building. Or as another resident, Kurt Reynertson testified: "It seemed like
they took a couple of random token items, out of about four or five
apartments... The bulk of my belongings are still at 539, underneath the
rubble."
***A-INFOS DISCLAIMER - IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE*** A-Infos disclaims responsibility for the information in this message. ********
The A-Infos News Service
********
COMMANDS: majordomo@tao.ca
REPLIES: a-infos-d@tao.ca
HELP: a-infos-org@tao.ca
WWW: http://www.tao.ca/ainfos/
Follow Ups:
Note: Posting is disabled in all archives
Post a Followup
|
|
|