THE FIRE COMMISIONER ORDERS YOU FORTHWITH that all business and excuses being laid aside, you and each of you immediately vacate the above described premises, for the reason that the conditions in said premises are immediately perilous to life in the case of fire therein...
That's the notice posted to residents of 475 Kent Street Sunday night, asking them to vacate their homes on a night when the temperatures were only about 20F. It is said the building is an illegal conversion of a matzo ball factory and is not up to code for residential occupancy. But still, why evict the entire building on such a frigid night?
Many of the residents are artists. Anyone have experience living in converted spaces that aren't exactly "residential"? Via: Gowanus Lounge.
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Comments (13)
You guys are a little late on this one.
Whatever. They knew they were renting in an illegal building. Last week's news.
That is such a bullshit attitude, LBhirise. Go take that nonsense to curbed.
There are so many issues at hand with this eviction, not the least of which being the threatened state of the arts in NYC, but above all that, and above all the sqaubbling coming from folks like LB, is the fact that all of these people have been kicked out of their homes, and at the same time in many cases, their places of business. Whatever you think of their lifestyles, career , or housing choices, try having a little compassion for folks who have been kicked out of their homes at a moments notice.
I actually lived in this building almost 2 years ago with my husband - I can assure you we never even had a clue that it was an illegal building- our landlord basically rented the entire floor for a 10 year lease and then sublet the spaces out and we were never under the impression there was anything wrong - and they were the kindest people, I doubt they did either. Every single apartment (I would say probably 60 in total) was a residence. Some were used for a studio as well, but the majority were people's primary homes.Some of these people had lived there for over a decade!
I lived on the penthouse floor and I just can't imagine what some of these people are doing right now - especially the disabled women who lived across the hall from me. I really hope they all found a place to stay.
its too bad - some of these lofts were beautiful and people put alot of time into making them their own space- especially the ones living there for 10 years. I'm glad I got out when I did, I had a funny feeling about the building - in particular the overhead management. After a while I had a feeling that the residents in the building weren't the primary care of the management and that they had other things going on. There was a loading dock in the back of the building.....I guess that should have tipped us off.
i think my favorite quote related to this nonsense is the article from Metro....
Decorative artist Alex Kellum, 27, flew in late Saturday from the Sundance Film Festival to recover belongings. “It’s incredibly hard to digest,†he said.
Ummm.... I hardly feel bad for someone who had to jet home from a celeb filled film festival and the slopes to recover his belongings...
"Ummm.... I hardly feel bad for someone who had to jet home from a celeb filled film festival and the slopes to recover his belongings..."
That's wrong. You have no idea what kind of financial status or need he is in. If you had to risk losing all your belongings I think you would jet home too. No matter where you were.
I wouldn't wish this sort of situation on anyone.
no one deserves to be evicted from their home no matter what their situation, BUT this building and its situation weren't exactly a mystery... it's been around for a while and everyone living there knew what they were sacrificing for great space and low rent. I live in a much much smaller space for a lot more money, and barring any unforseen disaster, I have the assurance that the government can't come along and padlock my doors one day.
So sad, this place had a great rooftop.
I haven't really been following this, but it seems a bit clumsy of the city to toss an entire buildings worth of tenants into the street without any notice. Arrest the landlord or the owners or managers and give the building 2 weeks to clear out. If safety is truly an urgent issue (and why do I doubt that...), then post an emergency vehicle at the front of the building for those 2 weeks. An orderly evacuation seems like it would be in everyone's best interest. Its not like there is an abundance of housing in the NYC area.
As for Casa3, you have no such assurance that this won't happen to you. None of us do. There are a myriad of circumstances beyond tenant control that can lead to a building evacuation. Believe it or not, some of them don't even involve safety. That is why the manner in which this eviction was handled should be worrisome to all of the renters here. So the question you should ask yourself: if it were my building, how would I want my city officials to handle it?
I wrote several angry letters to officials, one being the mayor. I got a response from his office saying there were many violations in the building and the need to evacuate but it did not give any good reason why they insisted on the evacuation to take place on a bitter cold night. There really is no excuse for that.
RichardinLa - okay, there are no guarantees in life... I realize this, but my chances of getting hit by a bus are higher than being evicted suddenly by the NYC Gov. My building is legal, up to code and financially secure. I feel for these people out on the street, I'm not heartless, but I also think had they done their due diligence this eviction would not have come as such a huge surprise.
No excuse? It had tons and tons of grain illegally stored in the basement. Tons and tons of grain that could have ignited at any moment! Would you rather all of these people and there posessions be dead?
Sorry, I understand that posessions can't die. Let's say...these people dead and their posessions burnt to a crisp.