Collapse

Edited by Sam Thielman

IT'S HARD TO write this for a variety of reasons, and the least of them includes the risk of doxxing myself, so I'm going to save personal reflections until after the paywall. Here's what matters most. 

About an hour before I set down to write this on Saturday, I got back from dropping off the latest round of requested toiletries at the Y on Flatbush Avenue and Farragut Road. The Y, obviously a neighborhood staple, has been a collection-distribution point for those who lost their homes on Wednesday, when 1321 Flatbush Avenue, a three-story building, two stories of which contained residential apartments, suddenly collapsed into an adjoining construction site on 2625 Bedford Avenue. Since Thursday, the Y has also been a staging ground for first responders and relevant city agencies. But next week—possibly as early as Monday—the Y is going to phase out the staging ground as the effort shifts to longer-term support. 

Anyone who wants to help those affected by the collapse has two channels going forward. For immediate needs—and that means donations of toiletries; new clothing; and gift cards of all sorts—take them to the Bethesda Church of God at 1280 Flatbush Avenue. I am told that food donations cannot be guaranteed to the affected people themselves, but will go into the general food drives for the neighborhood that the church already performs. Immediately needed items, as indicated above, include toilet paper, wipes, diapers, period products, paper towels, shampoo, body wash or soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair products, tissues, things of that nature. Clothing must be in immaculate condition: One bedbug can ruin everything. 

For donating money, intended for families and individuals needing longer-term assistance—that means with meals, bills and, crucially, housing—representatives from the coalition of disaster-assistance organizations known as NYC VOAD are encouraging donations to the Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC. You'll see a button for aiding with the building-collapse recovery up on the top of the page. I am told that by next week, the Fund, in consultation with local officials, will select a locally trusted institution to channel donations through. That organization will have proven, accountable methods of distribution to get into the hands of the affected people themselves. For now, the Mayor's Fund will collect donations before passing them on to the selected organization. 

This part is editorializing, but: People need material resources first and foremost. Beyond that, the people of Flatbush need justice. 

There are investigations underway by the city Department of Buildings and the Brooklyn district attorney's office. But the developer of the construction site at 2625 Bedford, Robert Fischman, and the owner of the collapsed 1321 Flatbush, Olufemi Falade, both have records of violations that speak to developmental recklessness and the existing building's structural unsoundness. Jumaane Williams, the city public advocate and before that our local city councilman, said Falade, who was jailed for slumlord-related activities 20 years ago, "has a documented record of failing to maintain properties." Fischman and his partners ignored a stop-work order for the construction in April. They simply paid their $10,000 fine and continued work—work that was supposed to be for a three-story building, replacing a one-story building, but which suddenly turned into a nine-story building, according to plans submitted to the city in September. 

There will be a hearing at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17 of Community Board 18, in the auditorium of Downstate, 395 Lenox Road. This will be the first opportunity for the community to make its—our—voices heard. 

I DIDN'T HEAR IT at first. Then my daughter, confused by my inaction, asked me how I wasn't hearing any of the helicopters overhead. Once she mentioned it, I realized that I had mentally compartmentalized the hum from the sky that now I could hear clearly. Hours later it occurred to me that after all these years, I've normalized the sounds of helicopters.