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WOW

asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
edited July 2007 in Strut Central
I was checking out the current TV site and came across this clip. Watch if you have a couple of minutes.

  Comments

  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    damn...
  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts
    Jesus.
  • dayday 9,611 Posts
    Completely fucked. I don't understand it.
  • troublemantroubleman 1,928 Posts
    thats so fucking stupid. Glad to see that dude standing up for the familys rights.
  • asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
    Shit like this tests my faith in humanity.

    Cue "Ain't No Love in The Heart of the City"
  • JazzsuckaJazzsucka 720 Posts
    This is some low-ass inhuman bureacracy at work.
  • DrJoelDrJoel 932 Posts
    So the law is that the same family can't pay rent for two apartments in the same building? What is this law preventing? Maybe i am missing a piece of the puzzle here. (?)
  • coffinjoecoffinjoe 1,743 Posts
    Shit like this tests my faith in humanity.

    Cue "Ain't No Love in The Heart of the City"

    that's why i'm loving country life
    (faith in humanity restored related)

    city living is some harsh reality business
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    So the law is that the same family can't pay rent for two apartments in the same building? What is this law preventing? Maybe i am missing a piece of the puzzle here. (?)

  • kicks79kicks79 1,338 Posts
    New York's finest at work...Shit is fucked up.
  • cpeetzcpeetz 2,112 Posts
    Lame.
    So what, that apartment is probably rent controled and relatively cheap?
    The landlord finds a loophole for eviction so he can get a serious rent increase right?
    What other reason could there be for evicting someone who pays and treats the
    property well?
    Greed is a motherfucker.
  • Tonearm_RobberyTonearm_Robbery 699 Posts
    So the law is that the same family can't pay rent for two apartments in the same building? What is this law preventing? Maybe i am missing a piece of the puzzle here. (?)


    I'm pretty sure it's to prevent people from monopolizing entire floors or whole buildings (i.e. gangs).

    Ever see New Jack City?
  • kicks79kicks79 1,338 Posts
    Yeah but they really look like a gang right? Surely some kind of common sense and decency should prevail?
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    When gangs take over a building, they don't often pay rent



    It's actually to prevent Landlords' families from monopolizing a building.

    Not that it has any bearing whatsoever here.
  • Options
    Unknown
    So the law is that the same family can't pay rent for two apartments in the same building? What is this law preventing? Maybe i am missing a piece of the puzzle here. (?)


    There have been instances where apartments in NYC (and probably other cities) have been illegaly subdivided and there is no record with the fire department of changes made to the apartment. Some of these apartments become overcrowded with tenants (though this didn't appear to be the case here), overcrowded tenants overload electrical circuits, and the potential for a fire becomes very real.

    When firefighters are en route to a building on fire, they pull up a database that tells them the type of construction of the building. They frequently inspect buildings in their district to the best of their ability but usually cannot get into every apartment to check for illegal and unsafe alterations. When they arrive at a building on fire and get into the trouble area, they are presented with a situation where there are rooms where there shouldn't be and walls blocking exits and it presents more problems and puts more people in danger.

    This video was done in 2005. In January 2005 there was a case in the Bronx where two or three firefighters were killed when they had to jump out of windows of an illegally subdivided apartment, after they became trapped due to the illegal construction (Google: Curtis Meyran for more info if you're interested).

    Afterwards NYC started to crack down on illegal alterations to apartments, and I guess enforce a rule where they can evict people who change the layouts of buildings without permits.


    I'm not defending the practice, I'm just pointing out an angle that most of you aren't aware of.
  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts
    Fucked up.

    They have a banging apartment though.
  • DrJoelDrJoel 932 Posts
    Good info Sween, thanks. That puts a whole lot more perspective on things.

    They have a banging apartment though.

    Ha! I was thinking the same thing.
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    fire department

    Yea, I kinda figured this was the reasoning.
  • asprinasprin 1,765 Posts
    But this isn't about one unit being sub-divided is it? I thought they didn't want the same family renting more than one unit in the same building?
  • G_BalliandoG_Balliando 3,916 Posts
    Exactly, I don't see the correlation with this situation and what Sween was talking about (although, that was some kowledge dropped). Why didn't they at least give them an option of letting go of one of the units? Or did they have 2 side-by-side units and knock the wall down to make it into one big apartment? Still doesn't seem like they should have just thrown them out. I wonder if they had any prior warning. Of course, with a 3 minute video clip with little to no explanation, we have no back story. Were they given any options? I'm not trying to say the family is at fault by any means, I'm just saying, who knows what went down? I'd be interested to know the rest of the story. I hope they were able to find a home in less than the "several months" that it takes an evicted family to find, on average.
  • captainplanetcaptainplanet 626 Posts
    with a 3 minute video clip with little to no explanation, we have no back story. Were they given any options? I'm not trying to say the family is at fault by any means, I'm just saying, who knows what went down? I'd be interested to know the rest of the story. I hope they were able to find a home in less than the "several months" that it takes an evicted family to find, on average.

    yeah, it certainly doesn't help the cause to leave so much unsaid. I want to to get all angry about this, but I have no real clue what the particulars are and why this is happening. Is this a part of a longer piece?

    bottom line though, you can tell something shady (which probably benefits the landlord) is taking place.
  • KNOWKNAIMEKNOWKNAIME 51 Posts
    Housing should be a right. We live in a society where there is way too much value put into money and not enough respect for humanity. Instead of building giant monuments and so called public government buildings we should be building suitable housing. Imagine what it would be like in the utopian world where no one would have to struggle to survive. We need better leadership and more compassion for all people. Put people first!
  • shomshom 31 Posts
    I don't know the details, but I feel bad for the family.


    ...also, it really makes me think how my crib sucks
  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    They are in violation of New York's Building Codes and Standards. It sucks but its the law. It violates the construction of tenant seperation for fire and life safety in construction of apartments. Yes, they should had consulted with the building department, but they wouldn't had gave them a permit for that. The landlord would had to present the plans, and had to hire a licensed contractor do the work. Blah, Blah, and Blah government redtape. I do this shit on a daily basis.

    My city does not take this angle as of evicting people for this, we catch them hopefully during the process of changing the construction usually by a caller, or neighbor. Really the landlord is to blame. We would take he or she to court and he or she would pay the fines.

    Sincerly,

    Your local building inspector
  • Options
    Unknown
    Exactly, I don't see the correlation with this situation and what Sween was talking about (although, that was some kowledge dropped). Why didn't they at least give them an option of letting go of one of the units? Or did they have 2 side-by-side units and knock the wall down to make it into one big apartment? Still doesn't seem like they should have just thrown them out. I wonder if they had any prior warning. Of course, with a 3 minute video clip with little to no explanation, we have no back story. Were they given any options? I'm not trying to say the family is at fault by any means, I'm just saying, who knows what went down? I'd be interested to know the rest of the story. I hope they were able to find a home in less than the "several months" that it takes an evicted family to find, on average.


    As I mentioned, I was just presenting a little backstory as to why NYC was cracking down on building codes in 2005. It certainly does not look like the subdivided style of apartment I was referring to (working my job I've seen in Hempstead apartments with 3 bedrooms but 12-16 places to sleep), that's for sure. No one on here knows any of the backstory to that eviction though.

    First off, the building code was broken and the grounds for eviction were legal. Fucked up? Yes. BUT, how did the building department find out about the illegal apartment? Did neighbors rat? Did the landlord? Y'all know that a lot of buildings in NYC are owned by absentee landlords that outsource building management and havent visited the property in YEARS right?

    I'd guess someone in the building didn't want the family there anymore for some reason and dropped a dime about the illegal situation. Someone else could have gotten evicted for something and said "fuck it, if I'm going so are they". Who knows, you'll never know how that shit went down.
  • G_BalliandoG_Balliando 3,916 Posts
    They are in violation of New York's Building Codes and Standards. It sucks but its the law. It violates the construction of tenant seperation for fire and life safety in construction of apartments. Yes, they should had consulted with the building department, but they wouldn't had gave them a permit for that. The landlord would had to present the plans, and had to hire a licensed contractor do the work. Blah, Blah, and Blah government redtape. I do this shit on a daily basis.

    I must be missing something here; they didn't mention anything about the apartment being physically altered, they just said that there was a family living in two apartments in the same building. What did I miss? They never said they knocked down walls. I am guessing this is the asumption though.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Housing should be a right. We live in a society where there is way too much value put into money and not enough respect for humanity. Instead of building giant monuments and so called public government buildings we should be building suitable housing. Imagine what it would be like in the utopian world where no one would have to struggle to survive. We need better leadership and more compassion for all people. Put people first!

    Yeah, that sort of rhetoric and $1.75 will get you a cup of coffee. Less talk, more doing, Funshine.

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