Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
On Feb. 27, a two-alarm fire broke out at 136 Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street.
Initial reports put the blame on a "lit object" discarded from a window down to the courtyard in the rear of the building.
The fire destroyed a ground-floor apartment. As a precaution, the FDNY opened up some walls and the ceiling in the kitchen at the Wayland on the corner, causing them to be closed for a few days to repair the drywall. (They reopened on March 2.)
Meanwhile, A&C Kitchen, the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant sustained some water damage — mostly in its basement.
Now, more than 10 days after the fire, Mr. Li, who has owned A&C Kitchen for the past 30 years, is frustrated with the city's response and the bureaucratic process.
Mr. Li says the electricity and gas are still turned off to his business, even though they have restored both services to the residents and nearby commercial tenants.
He pointed out that there is no fire damage to his restaurant and that any water damage in the basement has been cleaned up and the smoke scent mediated. Still, he has lost two weeks of business.
He is actively looking for assistance from the community and hopes that local elected officials might help him cut through the red tape...
Mr. Li also noted that people who live in the building are still tossing lit cigarettes out the windows and fears they may have a similar issue again...
Oh I know! They should reach out to their city council per...oh nevermind. We do hope they are able to reopen soon.
ReplyDeleteCareless Tenant started this whole mess, instead of being a "responsible" cigarette smoker and discarding your butts in an ashtray ( yes these are bowl like structures where you can safely extinguish your cigarette butts ) and throw them in the trash, they just toss them out the window - and the streets, parks, sidewalks etc. Hope the city wakes up and he can reopen
ReplyDeletePeople are STILL tossing cigarettes out the window?! They should be ID'd to the landlord and evicted. If any of my neighbors were doing this, I'd take the same action. These old tenements are not fireproof and we've seen too many fire tragedies in this neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteSo fucked up. He’s a good man. Been ordering food from him since I moved to this area in 2010. Delicious and quick food. He already was closed for over a year because of Covid. Now this??? The city better get their shit together and look after small, tax paying businesses.
ReplyDeleteSo sad. Hopefully the red tape can be cleared up here but this type of red tape is such a perfect example of the impediments to small businesses in NYC. We need to clear it up generally and decrease excess regulation to support small businesses.
ReplyDeleteGood luck taking action, much less evicting, the a-holes still tossing butts. They deserve it but that will be impossible.
AveC/Ave D..The more things change the more they DONT!
ReplyDeleteI have emailed a request for help, along with the story, to our local community board, CB3, our current City Council District 2 rep, Carlina Rivera, and also a story idea to another local news blog asking "who is actually doing something to try to help A&C Kitchen, Ms. Rivera or her newly declared challenger, Allie Ryan, who I see is at least aware of this issue and re-tweeted the EVGrieve story today to try and focus more attention on helping this EV small business.
ReplyDeleteMr. Li, I hope more of my neighbors also take action as you requested. It takes a surprising small number of people making a fuss to get the attention of the right people. I hope you open soon so that I can order my favorite vegetable fried rice and you and all your staff can get back to work. Good luck!
Mr Li and his family are incredibly hard working, kind, and have been a part of this neighborhood for decades. They shut down for months during the pandemic and I know how happy everyone was when he reopened. I hope the stupidity of people breaking the law and now bureaucracy don't keep him closed much longer.
ReplyDeleteMr. Li, reach out to Congressman Dan Goldman office. He's great at his job and most likely be able to help.
ReplyDeleteGo fund me?
ReplyDeleteOf course Carlina nowhere to be found. Too busy lobbying for sidewalk shacks and chopping down trees.
ReplyDeletethe community board does not see any emails regarding this. If the owner would send contact info --email to the board, we can help but will need con ed info for his account. it is ususally a question of red tape between plumber and con ed. mn03@cb.nyc.gov or a dob requirement
ReplyDeleteMiss his food sooo much!
ReplyDeleteREACH OUT TO HARVEY EPSTEIN!
ReplyDeleteHe and his team actually CARE AND HELP . Also reach out to community board. You are one of the few places that are not $30 a person for lunch.
District Office
107 & 109 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009
212-979-9696
District Office Directions
epsteinh@nyassembly.gov
WTF...this was my favorite takeout restaurant around the neighborhood that still offered great portions of food at reasonable prices. My goto takeout restaurant that had the best tasting food since I moved to Ave D since 2015.
ReplyDelete