Friday, April 3, 2015

2nd Avenue update (April 3)


[Photo yesterday by PandaCat via Facebook]

The latest headlines

Manhattan District Attorney seeks to quiz Maria Hrynenko, landlord of East Village building leveled in gas explosion (Daily News)

Landlord of building that caused East Village blast was sued in 2013 (DNAInfo)

Investigators find gas plumbing in two leveled East Village buildings mostly intact (Newsday)

Everything we know so far about the East Village gas explosion (The Observer)

Con Ed flooded with reports of gas leaks since East Village blast (New York Post)

Week after explosion, nearby businesses feel economic impact (NY1)

2 women reunite with their beloved cats after building explosion (HuffPost)

Here is information gleaned from the most recent (dated yesterday) Inter-Agency Update:

• Currently located at 331 E. 10th St., the Red Cross Reception Center for displaced residents will move to the Community Board 3 Office, located at 59 E. Fourth St., on Friday April 3. Hours of operation at the new location will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, 4/3, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, 4/4. The center will be closed on Sunday, 4/5. Hours of operation will be from noon to 9 p.m. on Monday, 4/6, and Tuesday, 4/7
• To allow for FDNY marshals and NYPD Arson and Explosives Unit investigation to continue, debris removal will continue intermittently
• Approximately 4,400 cubic yards of debris searched and removed as of [yesterday] morning. Estimated to be more than half of the debris on site. This represents 85 trailer loads of debris removed. Each cubic yard weighs approximately one ton.

Donations, Services and Events

• Sting and Trudy Styler have donated $36,000 to a relief benefit for victims of the East Village explosion and fire to be held at Theater 80, 80 St. Mark's Place, on Sunday, April 12 at 8 p.m. The money will go to GOLES. Details on the Facebook invite here

• Next Wednesday at Parkside Lounge...



• Collections for the Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC continue...



Missing Pets

This cat was found near the explosion site on Wednesday night... now at The Animal Medical Center ... she is not microchipped...



Email the Center here

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be very weird if it turned out that the Con Ed inspectors were the cause of the gas leak. Think about the timeline - Con Ed shows up, does nothing, and leaves, then the store guy smells gas, the owner reps come to in check it out, and, kah-blooie!

nygrump said...

I have a question = how did the tenants in the building with the siphoned gas pay for their gas, or was it "included" in the rent? for the rest of us, might this not be a tip off that the landlord is up to something shady if the gas is included in the rent?

Anonymous said...

Based on earlier reports it seems the siphoning was not so much to get free gas for the stoves and more for gas for the hot water heaters they had installed, and also for a drier, which use much more gas than a cooking stove. They were probably trying to save a little money by doing something stupid and look how much that cost them in the end, everything, plus two good young men's lives.

Anonymous said...

We all have to pull together to help the displaces people and the shops that have remained closed. I wish someone would vet all these people who are collecting money for the resident's. I know many are legitimate. I am afraid that some unscrupulous person will take advantage of the situation.

Anonymous said...

Yah No. Con Ed would not want corporate liability at all against it jeprodizing its huge municipal contract.

ConEd interestingly though here is lined up to arrive and be in a position to be clearly held not responsible. An inspection and photos.
An hour before. What an ultra-tight clearance.

If their is complicancy it is between inspector and contractor in that timing.

Both the allowance for clearance of Con Ed and the the timing of the explosion, the time of the day. That has an interesting coordination here.

The explosion was at the time of day when the least amount of people would be in the building.

If ConEd was suspected of blowing up your rent-stabilized buildings they are going to come with a third set of investigating eyes for their insurance and lawyers.

You are not going to want that. Not anyone crooked. You dont want to mess with them. ConEd has a huge municipal contract on the line. Big fish.

Thats the other thing. Retail space holds insurance- and they inspect on claims. Any vacanct retail in a fire is a red flag. Bigger retail leases can have large insurance policies they bring in outside investigations and set of eyes. If you are running a corrupt system you dont want that.

Anonymous said...

I think thT non-microchipped cat is Lulu.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/7-cats-1-dog-missing-from-east-village-explosion-site/

paddy523 said...

Hey Grieve, there's a story in the daily news about Hannah Lipsky's cat. The cat in the picture looks like the cat in this story. You might want to check it out.

Potentially incorrect caption .. said...

@Anon at 1:23 PM: The article you link to states that "both cats were microchipped" and the caption on the photo here at EVG says she isn't.

But of course one of the captions could be wrong, or it's conceivable that AMC just missed the chip when they scanned for it.

It would be nice if she gets back home.

Anonymous said...

I just signed up for renters insurance and purchased a cat lives here sticker for our apt door to alert emergency workers. Reading the aftermath coverage really was a wake up call. I wonder if we can donate specific items to tenants who have shared their stories. I would love to buy the playwright a dozen composition books and nice pens. She lost all of her journals .

skhazanovich said...

This cat has a similar M shaped marking on her face, and black lines on the sides of her eyes, to Ryce, one of the missing kitties.