475 Kent Tenants to Bloomberg: Let Us Back In!
In the wake of this week’s meeting with the DOB and FDNY, the tenants of 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg submitted a written appeal to Mayor Bloomberg today (cc’ing about every pol in town along with the Mayor of London) to let them back into their homes and workspaces. “As the vacate enacted by the…
In the wake of this week’s meeting with the DOB and FDNY, the tenants of 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg submitted a written appeal to Mayor Bloomberg today (cc’ing about every pol in town along with the Mayor of London) to let them back into their homes and workspaces. “As the vacate enacted by the FDNY on January 20th drags on, many of us risk bankruptcy and the complete destruction of the businesses and careers we have spent the last decade building at 475 Kent Ave.,” closes the first paragraph of the letter. Full text on the jump.
DOB, FDNY Deliver Bad News to 475 Kent Tenants [Brownstoner]
475 Kent Avenue: How It All Began [Brownstoner] GMAP
Big Showing From Pols at 475 Kent Vigil [Brownstoner]
Closing Bell: Moving Out at 475 Kent Avenue [Brownstoner]
‘Commune of Creative Types’ in the Burg is Emptied Out [Brownstoner]
February 8, 2008
To:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Dear Mayor Bloomberg,
The situation for the 200+ tenants of 475 Kent Avenue has become desperate as our livelihoods and businesses are increasingly threatened. Everyday that our work places are shuttered we miss a deadline, lose a client or a contract and fail to make a sale of the goods and services that support our lives. As the vacate enacted by the FDNY on January 20th drags on, many of us risk bankruptcy and the complete destruction of the businesses and careers we have spent the last decade building at 475 Kent Ave.
Whether or not the state of 475 Kent posed immanent threat to human life on the night of January 20th, 2008, it certainly does not today. In fact, our building is safer than most factory buildings in the city. It is of solid fireproof construction, has two means of egress, has working standpipes and Siamese connections, emergency exit lights, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.
The architectural plans for the building are being filed with the DOB today and the work to rehabilitate the sprinkler system will be underway by next week. We need access to our studios NOW. Upholding the vacate order is unreasonable and is now truly endangering our lives as many of the tenants face financial ruin. What we are headed for now is a real emergency. We have had architectural and fire-safety experts survey our building and they have deemed that it is safe for inhabitants and for fire fighters. Fire Guards are often employed in buildings where sprinkler systems are not in place or are being repaired. We have had Fire-Safety companies report to us that Fire Guards have been used in buildings without working sprinkler systems for up to two years. In case it wasn’t clear, our building is constructed of one-foot thick cast concrete, a non-combustible material.
It is absolutely untenable for us to wait for the completion of work on the sprinkler system to gain access to our studios. Even if this work could be expedited in 3 – 4 weeks (and most estimates put it at 2 – 3 months) we cannot afford to be out of work for a moment longer.
Mayor Bloomberg, we need you to get us back into our studios and back to work NOW. We have architects and fire-safety experts who are willing to file expert opinions regarding the safety of our building. We call on you to do everything in your power to save our businesses and the lives we have built at 475 Kent Avenue.
The Tenants of 475 Kent Avenue
CC:
Kate Levin, Commissioner NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
David Yassky, NY City Council Member
Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President
Joseph Lentol, NY State Assembly
Vito Lopez, NY State Assembly
Martin Connor, NY State Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator NY
Charles Schumer, Senator NY
Barack Obama, Senator IL
Ken Livingston, Mayor of London
anyone have a Twinky? I’m hungry
You would think that atleast some of these bohemian tenants would be married to bourgeoise types who would look after the nitty gritty details of running an old complex building.
Bloomberg said this in response to the letter, “TLDR.”
hey jackass– get a dictionary and look up “exorcise”. then stop laughing. cause you’re a jackass.
3:49, the whole point of this mess is that it was a “fire hazard”– the building isn’t flammable, it can’t burn.
i love how everyone likes to throw around the term “illegal”. it really lends a certain cachet to your weak argument. rents there are the same as anywhere else. the spaces were individual and unique, not the cookie cutter crap construction found in all the new “luxury” glass boxes.
the 150 year old brownstones with rotting joists and floors that drop an inch or two across a 12 foot span are no safer. 100 year old pine floors anyone? cloth wiring installed when your grandma was in diapers the first time? and yet thousands and thousands of people live in buildings like this all over the place.
how many article have you read about families and children dying in fires in buildings like that? families burn to death every month in old brownstones and the like.
and how many people even get injured in fires in buildings like 475 Kent? Deutschebank was a different scenario. the standpipes are fixed here. buildings like 475 Kent only burn down when they are full of clothes and burned down by a lone homeless arsonist.
it’s a joke to call this building dangerous and it’s ignorant to attack the tenants. get your shit straight before you go spouting off like you know what you’re talking about. and kiss your broker before you go to bed tonight. he saved your ass by charging you an arm and a leg for an overvalued box. how ’bout that housing bubble?
they spelled it right, moron
4:25 – “exorcise” Good thing you’re an artist and don’t have a real career requiring spelling skills. LOL.
The city is acting horribly.
In light of the tragedy at the Deutschebank Building, due largely to NYFD manegerial incompetence, the fire dept brass is trying to compensate by being sadists in Brooklyn. Sadism as an alternative to competence is a long established government agency routine.
Torture the inhabitants of this building, throw them out into the freezing night, and it will show the public that the NYFD is on its toes and doing its job.
disgraceful!
This is such a repeat of what happened at water street in 2000. Sorry guys, you got fucked, just like the tenants of 247 water and 1717 Troutman.
3:49 no amt of therapy will exorcise you of your insensitivity, hatred and evilness. same shit can happen to you and when it does we’ll think of your arrogance – you drunken sot!