Dolphin Gym abruptly closes on East 4th Street

Several readers have pointed out that the Dolphin Gym on East Fourth Street near Second Avenue closed without much warning yesterday.

One reader said that she was in the gym yesterday morning.

"I said 'See you tomorrow!' and not a peep. Went by [last night] — totally padlocked, but not by the Marshal."

According to the sign, memberships will be honored at the Synergy Fitness on East 14th Street just west of Second Avenue.



Said another reader: "I went to Synergy, by the way, and they let me workout but they didn't really know what's going on."

Noted

Friday night #eastvillage @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/8OpG1d6mPy

— EventPhotosNYC (@Eventphotosnyc) March 28, 2015

From this evening: aerial footage of the collapsed buildings on 2nd Avenue

Back with more drone footage from this evening… starting around 6:40…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Aerial footage showing the aftermath of today's East Village explosion

[Updated] Citi Bike is shutting down for the weekend

Per the Citi Bike Tumblr:

We’ll be taking Citi Bike offline at 10 pm Friday through the weekend for maintenance. After 10 pm you will not be able to check out a bike.

During this time members will not be able to access their accounts. The membership sign-up page, Citi Bike station map and Citi Bike app will also be unavailable.

We’ve timed this work to make sure we’re back online in time to get our members pedaling by Monday morning.

We will be extend all active Citi Bike memberships by three days and issuing refunds for anyone who purchased a 24-hour pass on Friday 3/27. We will also offer refunds to anyone who purchased a 7-day pass earlier in the week.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. We wanted to make these upgrades to improve Citi Bike before the nicest riding weather begins.

Updated 3-28 5:56 p.m.

Good news! We're coming back online a bit early. Find out more: http://t.co/utD1AVN1rY

— Citi Bike (@CitiBikeNYC) March 28, 2015

From the blast zone

The NYPD removed some of the vehicles parked adjacent to the fallen buildings late this afternoon…

Photo by Derek Berg

...and a few more shots via EVG reader Daniel...

The Mayor's Fund collecting donations for the East Village building collapse

Help support families affected by the #EastVillage building collapse by donating to the @nycmayorsfund: http://t.co/wqHYrzPgwT

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) March 27, 2015

Details here

Sago is missing

Spotted on Second Avenue and East Sixth Street via @edenbrower

The off-duty firefighter who was first on the scene yesterday after the 2nd Avenue explosion

In the video that Troy Hinson (aka Troyquan) took in the moments after the explosion, you can see a man climb the fire escape above Sushi Park at 121 Second Ave. and search for any people inside the building.You can see him kick in some windows during his search.

His name is Mike Shepherd, a third-generation New York City firefighter. Shepherd, of Squad 41 in the Bronx, was off duty and had just finished lunch nearby.

Al Baker at The New York Times has Shepherd's story.

“As I got closer to the corner I could feel the concussion bounced off the building across the street and kind of hit me in the chest and I said, ‘Oh man, it’s a big one.’ ”

“Then I looked and I turned and I see the whole building is out in the street and people laying there, and I said, ‘Oh man, this is bad.’ And I looked up and I thought, ‘I got to check above.’”

He saw a girl out on the fire escape, and she could not get the ladder unhooked.

“Me and a couple of other guys were trying to get the drop ladder down for her. It was too heavy. She was panicking. I told her, I said, ‘Honey, you got to calm down and listen to me.’ I said, ‘Bend with your legs and lift it up so it unhooks and then just let it go.’ And she was like, ‘I can’t.’”

He told her she could do it.

“I just kind of instilled confidence in her.”

Read the whole article here.

The Stage is open on 2nd Avenue

A little positive news to pass along... The Stage, across the Avenue from the blast site, was able to open today...

We had second breakfast at #StageDiner ! Roman and his team are open! 128 Second Avenue, NYC between 7th and 8th Streets #EastVillage The NYPD has blocked off the street but will let diners in if they mention The Stage Diner #lunch #food #coffee

A photo posted by RudeBoy_RB (@rudeboy_rb) on Mar 27, 2015 at 12:01pm PDT

[Updated] Report: Plumbing work at Sushi Park didn't have proper permits

[Image via Facebook]

From The New York Times this afternoon:

The investigation into the explosion and fire on Thursday that reduced three buildings in the East Village to rubble and injured more than 19 people is focusing on plumbing and gas work that appears to have been done without a permit at a restaurant on the ground floor of one of the buildings, according to city officials and public records.

The restaurant in question was Sushi Park at 121 Second Ave. Head on over to the article here... it gets a little complicated about who did (or didn't do) what and when.

Updated 6:23 p.m. DNAinfo has more about what may have likely happened at the scene.

Investigators believe a worker may have turned off gas to the original, improperly used pipe, before Con Edison arrived in order to prevent them from discovering that it was being improperly tapped, sources said.

Con Edison workers inspected the new, larger pipe, but once again it did not pass muster, and Con Ed refused to turn on gas to it, and they departed.

Investigators suspect that once they left, a worker went back to the original pipe, and somehow damage the pipe when he turn the gas back on and created the leak, which exploded a short time later.

Read more here.

The FDNY remains on the scene along 2nd Avenue

#FDNY units will remain on-scene in #EastVillage as operations continue today. pic.twitter.com/mhzF5loGss

— FDNY (@FDNY) March 27, 2015

And we have more photos... a view of the three destroyed buildings at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street ... via EVG reader Laurie...





And a few dramatic shots from last night by EVG reader Conway Liao...

Noted

Retweet to get the word out: Call 911 or @conedison immediately if you ever smell gas.

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) March 27, 2015

Report: DA eyeing contractor working at 121 Second Ave.

[Photo this morning by peter radley]

Per DNAinfo:

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office and other agencies are investigating whether contractor Dilber Kukic, 39, played a role in the blast that started at 121 Second Ave., sources said.

Kukic — whose construction firm performed work at the address in the past — was already under the scrutiny of Manhattan prosecutors in an unrelated case. He was arrested last month for an alleged role in a widespread bribery scandal involving city inspectors.

Read the whole article here.

The view of 2nd Avenue and East 7th Street this morning

Photo by EVG contributor jdx



Photo by Dean Neistat via Twitter