Sunday, September 29, 2013

Report: FDNY rescues partygoers from 2nd Avenue 'rooftop rager' after stairwell collapse injures 1


[Photo by Marc A Hermann for the Daily News]

From the Daily News today:

A rooftop rager dissolved into a rescue mission in the East Village early Sunday morning, when a stairway platform crumbled, leaving one man seriously injured after he plunged two stories and trapping more than 30 collegiate partygoers on the roof, authorities said.

Over 30 college-aged revelers had gathered on the roof of 159 2nd Avenue at E. 9 St. in the lower East Side on Saturday night for a moonlit soiree, witnesses said.

Also, the building is at East 10th Street, not 9th Street per the Daily News.

The injured student is in critical but stable condition at Bellevue.

And the reaction from the assembled revelers?

"We were having a party, just a bunch of people hanging out ... Some guy runs upstairs and says, 'Everyone quiet down, everyone shut the f--k up , someone might have died,'" said Martin Barshai, 20, a film student at New York University.

According to WABC 7: "Officials say the building has a lot of college aged students in the building that do a lot of 'partying.'"

Here is WABC's report:



The Post has a lot of photos here. Their headline: "NYU rager goes horribly wrong after roof collapse"

Updated 9-30

The Post reports today that an NYU student jumped on the landing, causing it to collapse, according to unnamed sources.

74 comments:

Anonymous said...

Idiots, but I hope the kid sues the management company; maybe they'll learn to rent out to responsible adults / families and not stupid 19-year-olds whose main purpose in life seems to be to make others' lives miserable.

Last night was mayhem in the EV... Also noticed a few people on the roof of the converted nursing home on 6th and B; did they jump over from neighboring buildings, or did people start moving in? When I walked my dog past there around 11pm, a few dudes on the roof were shouting and taunting pedestrians and woo-hoos on the sidewalk below. Classy. They were absurdly loud; I really feel for people who live on that corner, although I had my own share of noise from my lovely "neigbors" last night too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bloomberg. This is all your fault. This is your legacy.

Billsville said...

Imagine the tragedy had there been a fire and a bunch of people got trapped on the upper floors of that building? The poor kid is in bad shape, in critical condition with a collapsed lung in the ICU, so let's hope he pulls through. Amazingly the Dept. of Buildings has already cleared the building and declared it safe, which just means everyone living there has to continue to pay rent in a building with a trick staircase that collapsed oin multiple landings. All they did was nail some planks into the landings that collapsed. Welcome to NY where landlords rule, while tenants play the fool.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa said...

Something else happened on that same block about a half-hour ago. We live across the avenue, heard a big bang. Fire trucks arrived. All up and down that side of the avenue, in front of Starbucks, 13th Step, etc. But I'm not sure what was going on. They're all gone now. Have you guys heard anything?

Anonymous said...

What on earth is a "rooftop rager"? Was that rooftop intended for such usage? Most of these building rooftops are clearly marked as restricted access, so people go there at their own risk.

- East Villager

Anonymous said...

Just read the original article and realized it was the interior stairs that collapsed, so that has nothing to do with a roof party, except for the probability that there were probably far more people simultaneously on those stairs then their design ever intended. Might still be trouble for the landlord/owner/mgmt if it turns out the stairs were improperly maintained.
- East Villager

blue glass said...

this was just an extreme example of the party town our neighborhood has become. loud and obnoxious.

some folks accuse the complainers of being racists or nimby but the truth is we ALL suffer from the stupidity that prevails in our now college campus party neighborhood.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

@Eva I heard it too. Woke me out of a sound sleep.

john penley said...

This type of party activity has been going on in the East Village for some time now. There were numerous rooftop parties at a place I was staying in on Ave D and the organizers were not residents. Finally after someone dumped burning charcoal from a grill onto the roof the landlord stepped in and stopped the parties. In this case the people who organized this event should be held liable for injuries unless they notified the owners about this large party and I am sure most if not all of the residents of the building had no input into the having the party and were probably quite upset that it was happening on their roof in the first place.

Anonymous said...

This is why Supers should live in the building. These kids need constant babysitting. There are a few dorm apartments in my building and they are high maintenance. Parties, garbage every where, it's disgusting.

Anonymous said...

There have been some horribly loud parties in our building and even the live-in super (and various complaining neighbors, self included) have had a hard time stopping the noise, up to 4 a.m.

The landlord posted a warning/curfew of 10 p.m. and since then, most (not all) of it has ceased.

If tenants are informed and roof is posted "no access" then good luck with a lawsuit...

Unfortunately, the woo/bro culture of too much booze/drugs causes people to get hurt. Quite unfortunate that this student got hurt, but not surprising...

Billsville said...

They replaces the 2 collapsed marble landings with wooden boards and planks, and the DOB now says the building is safe to live in. Really ? Are those wooden planks fIreproof? Only in Bloombergville...

Crazy Eddie said...

Woo! Bro! Dude! OMG! Like yah! John Sexton, may you rot in hell.

BC said...

I had to move out of a building on 5th st. back in the 90's due to the children moving into the big city. As one child told me, "this is the EV and we can do anything we want" until one day the stairs collapse,etc.etc.

Anonymous said...

If rooftop party's are an ongoing issue in your building or across the street attend the monthly community 9th Precinct meetings and let them know. Establish a relationship. They will respond. It's a drag to have to do the heavy lifting, but it can help.

Simon1961 said...

I think Anonymous September 29, 2013 at 11:13 AM is referring to the building on the corner of 5th and A, that was formerly a nursing home. That rooftop is an unwelcome addition to the weekend party noise. If you are unlucky enough to live between 4th and 5th and Ave A and Ave B and face the back of the building, while the weather is decent, there will be parties (sometime 3 simultaneously) in 4 of the garden apartments and 1 second floor roof deck. The young men at 510 East 5th Street often start theirs on Saturday mid afternoon and go through the night into Sunday, and are insanely loud.

Anonymous said...

The landlord should evict and sue the host of this party. These buildings are old and can't handle the wear and tear caused by degenerate, suburbanite, 20-something alcoholics. Until there are consequences for their behavior it'll just continue.

Anonymous said...

I didn't read all this carefully so apologies if I missed something.., but isn't this the negligence of the land lord taking care of the steps and nothing to do with kids partying? kids have been partying illegally on roof tops for generations annoying old people. don't you remember?

chris flash said...

Can anyone here say "FERMENTED PISS?" That elixir works wonders vs monied transient party rats who have ZERO respect for the neighborhood they are occupying at the moment....

Theta Nu Epsilon said...

That was the most awesomest party, dude. Let's do it again next weekend at my building, Bro!

Simon1961 said...

Apologies (I need reading glasses): I meant to type "...the building on the corner of 5th and B, that was formerly a nursing home..."

Anonymous said...

...it was reported on several stations that the injured party was jumping up and down on the landing when it gave way.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

He's probably doing keg stands in the hospital as we speak!

If I ever did anything so stupid and destructive as a kid - and didn't wind up in the hospital on my own accord - my mother would have put me there herself. And then when I healed, she'd put me back in. Times sure have changed. Now when the Megans and Joshs cause $20k-$40k of damage breaking, entering and partying in someone's home, it's the parents who sue on behalf because they won't get into college.

The world is fucked up.

moe said...

Yes the 5th and B building has been filling up quickly. This last month there was moving truck after moving truck, along with the attendant new SUV's with connecticut plates and parents inside, and of course the true treasure of it all, the rich smug NYU brats that make it all so worth while.

Anonymous said...

No this is not what people have been doing forever- this is to the extreme. Most villagers go to parties in clubs and bars, maybe have a few friends over- they don't have keggers every weekend and bother the whole neighborhood.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

@7:54 PM Exactly. And since we don't have night clubs in industrial areas anymore, we have things like the local vomitorium - the 13th Step - and my personal favorite, Solas.

And if you ever want a DJ gig at Solas, it sounds like all you'll need to qualify is a top-40 mix tape.

Anonymous said...

entitled NYU br0s in treating the EV like a motel room shocker.

i'm sure their lawyer parents will rightfully kick in some money to pay for the damage.

Anonymous said...

@ Simon1961 - Yes, I did mean the former Cabrini building at 5th and B.

Can we just wipe out most of that block? I live on the South side of 6th, btw A & B, and the children on the North side of 5th who party all night are SUCH. A. PAIN. Last night, until midnight or so, they must have had a wooing contest, no kidding. One woo after another, each louder, then competitive chanting: boys vs girls. They don't go up on the roof, but party in the shared backyards, and the noise just fills all apartments on the block. There was a quiet period for a while this summer, but as of Sept 1, new assholes moved in...

Saul Goodman said...

Yes, Muffy's and Preston's mommy and daddy will most likely sue the building for having an unsafe staircase and landings, which is detrimental to their precious child's mental and emotional health and well-being and has caused post-traumatic stress and other psychological illness that they won't be able to concentrate and continue with their studies at NYU. Mr. and Mrs. Richbatten's, call Saul if you're ready to sue.

Anonymous said...

As a teen in the 70s, I remember going to huge parties in the EV all over the neighborhood. In the 80s-early 90s, I threw them in my apt, too. And they would extend into the hallway and fire escape. Now I can't stand when I hear too much crazy partying. It must be karma.

But this stuff has been happening in the EV for decades. DECADES.

Brian Van said...

Surely having malevolent sentiments about people who "party" is not nearly as gross of a moral offense as the "partying" that is being denounced here. Kill em all, right? Good thing you've never done anything to irritate anyone who might have justified throwing you down a collapsing set of stairs, right?

I have no idea what happened to cause the collapse. It could very well be the result of inappropriate use. But I do think it should be thoroughly investigated. If the collapse is because of repeated failures of the landlord to maintain the property, that is intolerable. People might be fleeing up to the roof in a disaster scenario - roof doors are often fire doors with an alarm. Or anyone can be using the steps, or walking beneath them. They have to be structurally sturdy at all times. No excuses. It's a safety requirement that transcends politics, even if you don't like people using such stairs to access roof parties.

blue glass said...

NO THIS HAS NOT THE KIND OF STUFF THAT has been happening in the EV for decades. DECADES.
i have been here for decades and the level of noise from the parties in the 60s through 80s did not disturb the entire building, block or neighborhood.

and the patrons of bars and clubs did not spill out into the street where they woo wooed all night.

and for all our drugging and drinking we were not so disgusting or disrespectful.

Anonymous said...

I can never figure out just what angle the incessant complainers here advocate for or from. There is someone in serious condition in a hospital; get control of yourself.

Then we have assertions that this is Bloomberg's fault because unemployed college students live in the east village?? Hello?? I thought you all said the village was no longer a place where unemployed college students could live because of Bloomberg? Which is it?

In any event, you all wax nostalgic about the east village of old, and then strategize with one another about how to call the authorities about youths having parties??? 20-30 years ago, that party would have been on the street corner, with boom boxes blaring and no police dare to show up. Which east village of yore are you longing for?????

Anonymous said...

Good for that kid. got what was coming to him for acting like a fool. probably wasn't event of legal age to be drinking and partying anyway. Look at the female students who were interviewed in the papers... who attended the party and who weren't even of age to be consuming alcohol anyway. Maybe this will be a lesson for these students who think the EV is just a place for mommmy and daddy to pay the rent and where only thing in life is to have fun.

Anonymous said...

917pm has a point.

And NYU students have been in the neighborhood for a long long time. What's different ? Maybe this is just a forum for cranky fogies. I am twice there age but I must have tolerance for the mayhem. EV is and should be full of nightlife. If not for you, consider moving....

Hope the kid gets better.

Anonymous said...

it won't be long before the sad little spoiled, antihuman, reptoid, rich satanic, nwo, british empire servant, tyrant of a so-called man, named bloomie, who seeks to destroy, all human life will be gone forever to his many palaces, where he will retire, and one day choke on a chicken bone, and be gone forever. Too many destroyed properties, lives, well beings, of new yorkers over his nasty dynasty in NYC. With hope, the new administration will see through bloomies bad rule, and create a new, fresh, advancing NYC for the future. Doom berg, goes down in the annals of history as one if the worst gladys kravitz snoops, surveillance predators the world has ever seen. Bye, bye, bloomie, you will surely not be missed, and take your meds.

Big Brother said...

Blame the landlord indeed! Not for maintaining a property that was ok until this jackass started jumping or doing tricks on the landing as the Post reported, but for not throwing these POS college kids out sooner. 40 kids on a roof? That sounds safe. This whole neighborhood has turned into a bad episode of Skins.

Anonymous said...

3:17 am: Not everyone has daddy's trustafarian fund to get up and move away from the noise. It's not that easy. Plus, lots of non-woo people still need or want to live here.

It's about mutual respect, not "oh, get out"!

Like I posted earlier, with some discussion, posting and a few shouts, the youngsters in our (also 12th St) building seem to understand...they can take their noise to a bar.

Still, no fun for those facing the street.

Big Brother said...

Per the NY Post and Grieve's other post on the incident, this was not the fault of the landlord nor were the stairs faulty. This asshole jumped from one landing to another causing the collapse:

"...drunken NYU teaching assistant crashed through three marble landings while trying to jump the stairs," according to unnamed authorities. “I have no idea what kind of weight [the staircase is] supposed to sustain,” an OEM source said. “But, obviously, it was not being used normally. It was jumped on by a grown man from 10 to 12 feet in the air.”"

Now everyone who lives on these floors and the floors above has to deal with several missing landings and the noisy renovations that will have to take place over the next few weeks. And who is going to pay for the damage? Mr. NYU?

Can we not live in any semblance of peace anymore? And don't give me some bullshit line about moving out of the city if I want peace. We pay a lot in rent to live in these buildings and they are not meant to be used as dorms or impromptu nightclubs.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

Remember when it meant something to say you attended NYU, before it became the punchline to most jokes about the East Village?

nygrump said...

As a tax payer, I find it offensive that my taxes are paying to pick up after these tourists. They don't pay taxes, they just take take take. This entitled generation is going to have a severe wake up call when the market crashes in the next year and every job has been offshored somewhere, anywhere but the US.

nygrump said...

ON the other hand, maybe now NYPD will start doing something about these tourists.

Anonymous said...

Can we conclude Tao Niu isn't teaching a class on pratfalls at NYU?

Anonymous said...

NYU AND finance? Could he be anymore of a cliche?

Anonymous said...

I'm around NYU often and I must say it's pretty humoruous to see all the Porters and Hannahs being walked around with their smartly-dressed mom and dads during orientation week.

If only their parents knew what kind of drunken mayhem their darling children will be up to within six months. They'd be mortified.

Unknown said...

I'm sure none of you grumpy commenters were ever college aged, enjoyed parties, and did something mildly stupid that turned out worse than you expected.

Also: GET OFF MY LAWN!

Anonymous said...

I hope they brethalyzed all the under-21 kids, and cited/arrested those with alcohol in their systems. Of course, no one on here agrees with the draconian drinking age limit, but it seems like a good way to teach these kids to act their age.

Giovanni said...

After this roof rager NYU will now stand for NIne-thousand Youths Urinating, usually off of your rooftop at midnight.

The kid who jumped down the stairs and crashed though the landing is in NYUs Business School. I am sure we all hope he gets well soon and is OK. And when he recovers he can use his business skills to start up a new business, selling the NYU Party Survival Kit to his fellow roof raging NYU classmates.

The NYU Party Survival Kit consists of a parachute, a crash helmet, knee pads, some wet wipes, and an iPhone app that shows updates with the current locations of all the roof rages in your area. It also automatically sends a text message to your parents when you are sent to the hospital.

The NYU Party Survival Kit, don't leave the dorm without it.

Anonymous said...

Henry, You are incorrenct.

I never went to those kinds of parties. I hung out with chill people who liked to talk about rather deep subjects while enjoying a couple of joints and having a bunch of laughs. In friends' apartments.

I never went to the kind of vomitous Woo Ragers like this party.

The "mildly stupid" things I ever did while under any kind of influence slightly endangered only myself, not dozens of other young people. Property (public or private) never got destroyed and my antics never included emergency responders.

The kids at this party were stupid youngins with no clue as to what it means to live in a society. They were too young to drink, didn't know HOW to drink, couldn't hold their liquor, and acted like four year olds let loose in a playground after eating eight times their weight in sugar.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like some people can't handle their booze. These kids should stick to their other preferred product of consumption...Fro-Yo. God knows there are enough of those places around now.

To all the people that want to crank out about how this is just another generation of partiers in the EV and everbody else should just shut up here's a reminder: yeah, if you've lived here for 20 years or more you probably did your share of drunken debauchery on the streets of the East Village, but whether you like to hear it or not this current generation of the entitled is different. These people have ZEE-RO respect for anything about the EV. If they were getting drunk here, or on some college campus in Nebraska it wouldn't make a difference. This is just another place for them to party...period.

Anonymous said...

Henry: Mildly stupid is the intoxicants walking across the GW Bridge at 3 a.m.

What this person did ended up causing serious injury to himself and major inconvenience to others, not to mention the $ to taxpayers. Those cherry pickers and firemen to go with them don't come cheap. Luckily there wasn't a FIRE happening at the same time.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

Actually Henry, I did not behave like this. Growing up in Boston there was a clear divide between the students who got drunk and terrorized the city and the rest of us who were embarrassed for them / by them. We mostly hung out in our apartments in Mission Hill and Allston and were low key. I myself didn't go to college but my friends who did went to art schools and were a bit more civilized than this crowd. I have a large family, a lot of whom held very public positions in various cities and the idea of doing anything that would embarrass them? No. Boston is such a college town which is why I escaped to New York in the 90s. Justifying the destruction of a 100+ year old building in the name of a "good time" is completely unacceptable. Grow up.

Anonymous said...

Bloom bergs sponge bergs clean up after their op. Fdny, military directed energy weapons used here, and 24/7, taking out Americans residential buildings, stores, pedestrians, SUVs, many accidents, flipping, dragging cars, killing innocents. Sue the government when they victimize you. Government sponsored terrorism. Fdny used to set many fires, insurance, red cross gains for corrupt government surveillance buildings, stores, control, abuse, tyrannical British empire.

Glenn Belverio said...

Back in the '80s and '90s, artists and drag queens and writers did not attend something so pedestrian as a "roof rager." We had fun inside clubs and bars like Pyramid, King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut, Boy Bar, Mars, the World, etc. and enjoyed performances put on by smart people, not drunken Muffys from Connecticut. These corporate-minded kids have no imagination.

Luckily my landlord has a zero-tolerance policy regarding roof access. All landlords should have this. Tenement roofs were not built for large gatherings.

Anonymous said...

To all those saying that everybody has done something crazy / stupid while in their 20s / in college... No. Not the same. These kids make these same stupid, idiotic decisions on every weekend night, and often also on workdays. Their dumb choices make the lives of neighbors miserable. I'm a reasonable person and wouldn't make a huge problem out of an occasional party, but when you can't sleep 3-4 nights a week because the little shitheads are partying, that is not okay. Also, I'm 28 myself, have lived in the neighborhood for 6 years, and have never had a run-in of any sort with a neighbor, other than disrespectful little shits like the ones described in the article. EV may be a destination for nightlife, but does that really mean that respect goes out the window?

A Meghan said...

Oh my God I had, like, the best night EVER! Me and my 14 roommates went to this, like, party or something. We weren't invited but I saw it on Instagram so whatevsees. We pooled our money together bought this, like, humongoid bottle of Georgi and totally crashed the party. Like, we got there and walked up 19 flights of stairs and, like, other Megan, with no h, she sweat all her makeup off before like, we even walked through the door. And like there was no room to stand so we piled into the bathroom or whatever and Megghan with two G's, she had to stand in the toilet it was that crowded. Then some creeper burst through the door and soooo vomited on Mmmegan, with three M's, and she was soooo mad. So like, like, like, like we went up to the roof where there was a trampoline set up and like, Josssh with three S's and Meeegan with three E's totally fell off the roof and no one cared because now we could use their Solo cups. So much better than cupping our hands and drinking vodka from them. Ugh! Then! Mmmeeeggghhhaaannn with three M's, three E's, three G's, three H's, three A's and three N's, she totally had to poop so we were like, going to go to the bathroom but came up with brill idea to poop on the roof and toss it over the side. She's highlarious! But then the roof collapsed to the 18th floor because it was old and could support 1,500 NYU students. Rude. We're suing. Then we fell again to the 17th floor, then the 16th and like like like like like like before we knew it we were in the basement under a pile of rubble. It was so gross but it was epic.

A Josh said...

I totally tapped that rubble. Boom!

Josssh With Three S's said...

Was Maayginn there?

Crazy Eddie said...

During the 90's and early 2000’s, Generation X partied hard here but they were not entitled A-holes celebrating “Bro” culture. Back then, NYU did not have a plus 55K enrollment. So these lines about that the EV was always a party town with THIS kind of behavior and the mocking of longtime residents here with “get off my lawn” comments are bullshit. And on that note, it's time for one my favorites that I found on this blog, “White Girl Wasted”.

“OMG, this MY song, let’s get on bar and start dancing, so drunk, WOOOO!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUX1sPs9WVQ




Anonymous said...

TPing a tree is doing something mildly stupid. Knocking out two landings of a building is willfull and malicious destruction of property. The landlord has every right to sue and if the host was facilitating underage drinking, he/she should be evicted ASAP. Babies playing adults in the City.

Anonymous said...

These kids should be ashamed of themselves. Animals.

Anonymous said...

There's going to be a self inflicted generation gap when all these kiddies of alcohol poisoning.

Jill said...

I feel we are making progress as it took 35 comments before someone said "why don't you move if you don't like it,"

I met my husband at a large too many people on the roof party on what is now my very roof, before I knew he would be my husband, and way before I knew who he was, in the mid-80's. At that time the roof had a deck built by the landlord in an attempt to get higher rents. Now I'm waiting for 100 NYU partiers to come crashing through my ceiling since the deck is long gone and the roof seems very fragile.

At the last party of several thousand revelers on the roof, one of them proudly told me "We're NYU students!" He thought that 1-it wasn't obvious, and 2-it gave them a pass for being drunk, loud idiots. The party ended shortly thereafter.

Giovanni said...

Just wait until these students graduate and find out that NYU really stands for Now You're Unemployed.

Anonymous said...

@Giovanni Wait until he starts looking for a job and his employers find out what he's really like with a little 'ol Google search.

Anonymous said...

Oh Meghan, you crack me up. See you at the next roof party OMG it's gonna be epic

vzabuser said...

New York if you scramble the letters is "WHY NO WERK?"

Mark Hand The Catchman said...

The next roof will collapse from the harmonious vibrations from simultaneous twerking.... watch; I will be proven right.

Anonymous said...

Staircases are meant to sustain more than just a person's minimum weight. If a simple little jump collapsed a stone staircase, then how do people expect residents to move furniture into the building?

Yes, the rooftop party was a tasteless, unsafe idea, but the truth of the matter is the stairs collapsed on a single person descending. The issue is the poor condition of the staircase, the lack of safety checks in place. This article is not the place for you to vent your frustrations about your loud neighbors.

Anonymous said...

This was not a "simple little jump." He leapt 10-12 feet through the air from one landing to the landing below. Unless that's the method in which you move furniture, hurling it through the air, you'll be fine.

Anonymous said...

1:15AM (the commenter two before mine) - this post is actually the perfect place in which to vent our frustrations over the unending noise from partiers and the Woo set that has obnoxiously ruined our neighborhood.

The state of the building maintenance is secondary.

One emergency responder himself said the landing was not being used in a normal way and lots of witnesses stated Niu was jumping up and down then jumped from one landing to another (thus breaking through the stone).

Jill said...

Isn't there an engineer or architect who can weigh in on building code? I'd love to know the actual answer.

And, where is. Better place than a neighborhood blog to vent about loud neighbors? In fact, it might be the most prevalent comment topic on this blog. Wtf?

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the video to surface so we can see this jackhole in action.

Anonymous said...

I walked by this bldg a few wks ago & took a look @ dept of bldgs work order notice taped to the front window - the cause of the repair was listed as vandalism, only to be crossed out & handwritten in: negligence. Unreal - so now the bldg owner has to foot the bill and the kids parents get off free and easy.