Nobody noticed the parking garage on Ann Street until it spontaneously collapsed. At least one person is confirmed dead, five others were rescued and the search for more victims continues. City inspectors have known about the building for years, and let them slide along on fixing multiple violations. The glaringly obvious aspect that nobody wants to mention is the fact that this could be the first domino in a string of similar collapses, for similar reasons. While this looks like an isolated incident, it’s only a “symptom” of a much larger disease. Ignorance and apathy are destroying America like a cancer.
Garage had four active violations
A busy street in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District remains closed on Wednesday as authorities investigate a parking garage collapse. Officials “have yet to disclose the suspected cause” but confirm their are “four active violations” tagged to the building. The disaster may have struck suddenly but nobody can claim there wasn’t a warning.
Any structural engineer will tell you that there are some laws which can’t be broken, even in Manhattan. One of them is the one which says: “entropy always increases.” The way Neil Young paraphrases that, “rust never sleeps.”
On Tuesday, April 18, the Acting Commissioner for New York City’s Department of Buildings, Kazimir Vilenchik, held a press conference to fill the public in on what they know. They have drone footage which shows how the four-story building “all the way pancaked.” Tucked between Nassau Street and William Street, the popular garage “collapsed all the way to the cellar floor.”
#BREAKING: A parking garage has partially collapsed at 57 Ann Street in Manhattan's Financial District. Reports of people trapped. Large rescue response. https://t.co/eecNQmIs3g
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) April 18, 2023
In addition to the person unfortunately killed, insurance companies are going crazy because the whole building was packed solid with the kinds of cars Wall Street bankers like to drive.
Vilenchik sheepishly admitted that one “active violation on the building dated to 2003.” An “application,” he explained, “was filed in 2010” related to the commercial parking garage. He’s not sure if “the violation was corrected.”
He also confirms that “there are some active permits on the building, one related to electrical work.” He’ll update everyone later, he adds. “Our engineers deployed and are currently checking adjoining buildings and observing footage from drone pictures to identify possible reasons for collapse.”
What went wrong
The building commissioner relates that they’re going to go back and review “property profiles to understand history of the building, certificate of occupancy, and all other records.” Once they see what they should have caught long ago, he’ll “update this information.”
Publicly available records show the garage had “19 violations that had been completed or defaulted on and another four that remained open, requiring a certificate of correction.” The building has an even murkier history than that, a local news outlet reports. Also, what exactly does “defaulted on” mean? Like we gave up trying to make them fix it so just charged a fine?
According to WABC, the building in question is owned by 57 Ann Street Realty Association, which happens to be based in Great Neck, New York. Their structure “had 64 violations with the Department of Buildings dating back to 1976.” As disclosed by FDNY Chief of Operations John Esposito, “there were six workers in the building when the garage collapsed around 4 p.m.”
Due to an emergency response to a structural collapse, please avoid the area of Ann Street, between Nassau Street & William Street in lower Manhattan. pic.twitter.com/V3KxNZGXbt
— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) April 18, 2023
Things could have been lot worse an hour or so later because the site is conveniently located “a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, and about half a mile from the New York Stock Exchange.”
Four of the injured “were transported to the hospital in stable condition. One person died, and another refused medical attention.” The fire department spokesman described “how a couple of the concrete slab floors collapsed, crushing some of the cars that were inside, prolonging operation.”
They’re pretty sure they have everyone accounted for but are still looking to be certain. The garage continued to crumble around them as they made rescue efforts. The building commissioner verifies “the certificate of occupancy for the building was issued in 1957 to be used as a parking garage.” New Yorkers are wondering how many more were built around then.
