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Brigid

(17,621 posts)
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:07 PM Apr 2014

The most outrageous real estate story I ever heard:

I am reading a short, charming novel about a cat living in NYC. The cat is adopted as a kitten by a woman living on the Lower East Side. Long before the cat ever comes into the picture, the woman has a daughter. They live in one of those shabby old buildings that are abundant in that part of the city.

One rainy Saturday morning when the daughter is 14, NYPD and FDNY come through the building, knocking on doors and saying that bricks have fallen from the facade in the back of the building, and it is in imminent danger of collapse. Everyone must evacuate immediately. They will be allowed to go back in as soon as possible to get their belongings, they are told.

As the day wears on, the residents, now soaking wet after standing out there in the rain all day, begin to smell a rat. They observe workers going in and out of the building without any apparent concern that it's about to fall down around them. In the early afternoon, even the mayor, Rudy Giuliani, pays a visit. He, too, enters the building without even a hard hat. Protests to the cops fall on deaf ears. One old man, a close friend of the girl and her mother, is not even allowed to get his cat, his last real connection to his recently deceased wife of over fifty years.

Within 13 hours, the building is demolished and the residents shipped off to homeless shelters. That's right: A building full of immigrants, working poor, and retirees are on the street. The property is taken over by the city and sold to a developer. An upscale condo building is constructed. The compensation to the residents who have lost everything? $250 in gift certificates (provided by the Red Cross, as if a natural disaster had occurred) and a stint in a homeless shelter.

The author insists that this incident is based on a true story. I can't imagine something like this happening without lawsuits out the wazoo, but then the residents wouldn't have had the resources for that. One of them grumbles that this would never have happened to the denizens of Park Avenue. Everything is about money and real estate in New York, I guess.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The most outrageous real estate story I ever heard: (Original Post) Brigid Apr 2014 OP
A true story? Perhaps, MineralMan Apr 2014 #1
I have long believed that free, equal access to the legal system. Rod Beauvex Apr 2014 #2
So, what happens to the cat? tularetom Apr 2014 #3
There are two cats. Brigid Apr 2014 #14
Hoax. Or... JJChambers Apr 2014 #4
Nope. See my post below. nt Princess Turandot Apr 2014 #7
The stories are very different JJChambers Apr 2014 #11
Sounds shady and sinister enough to me. Brigid Apr 2014 #16
So... JJChambers Apr 2014 #17
The whole thing sounds like a put-up job. Brigid Apr 2014 #18
Yes I agree. Blue Diadem Apr 2014 #19
It's true, see post below. n/t Blue Diadem Apr 2014 #8
172 Stanton Street... Princess Turandot Apr 2014 #5
Yes, that's the story. Brigid Apr 2014 #10
What novel? Brickbat Apr 2014 #6
"Love Saves the Day" by Gwen Cooper. Brigid Apr 2014 #13
172 Stanton Street, at the corner of Clinton Street pscot Apr 2014 #9
Was that "Love Saves the Day" by Gwen Cooper? shenmue Apr 2014 #12
That's the one. Brigid Apr 2014 #15

MineralMan

(146,189 posts)
1. A true story? Perhaps,
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:10 PM
Apr 2014

but without evidence of it, it's hard to say. Did the author include a time and address for this incident? If not, I suspect it's just a story. It could have happened, but if it did, there should be some documentation of it. Authors write all sorts of things. You said this was a novel. Novels are fiction. Authors make up stories in works of fiction.

tularetom

(23,664 posts)
3. So, what happens to the cat?
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:35 PM
Apr 2014

I'm confused. Is the cat that the girl adopts the same one that the old guy leaves behind?

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
14. There are two cats.
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 02:02 PM
Apr 2014

One is Honey, the old man's cat. She was never seen again after that awful day. The other is Prudence, a kitten the girl's mother found on the street years later. The girl, now married, takes Prudence in after her mother dies.

 

JJChambers

(1,115 posts)
4. Hoax. Or...
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:38 PM
Apr 2014

Grossly misrepresented facts. Even if the story is based on truth, it is certain that circumstances did not unfold as described in this embellished and misleading account.

 

JJChambers

(1,115 posts)
11. The stories are very different
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:50 PM
Apr 2014

As I suggested and it is now confirmed, the novel grossly misrepresented the facts to make it seem sinister.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
16. Sounds shady and sinister enough to me.
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 02:05 PM
Apr 2014

This is New York: It's all about real estate and money there, it seems.

 

JJChambers

(1,115 posts)
17. So...
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 02:14 PM
Apr 2014

Let the people stay in the partially-collapses building because they want to get a cat out? Sometimes the government must protect people even from themselves.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
18. The whole thing sounds like a put-up job.
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 02:18 PM
Apr 2014

A plot to take advantage of an opportunity to push working people out without any compensation, for a development deal. This is Rudy Giuliani's New York we're talking about here.

Princess Turandot

(4,784 posts)
5. 172 Stanton Street...
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:42 PM
Apr 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/25/nyregion/collapse-on-lower-east-side-leaves-families-homeless.html

Another report (LES / East Village blogger): http://evgrieve.com/2009/02/remembering-172-stanton-st.html

The one aspect to the story above which *may be* somewhat off is the immediate sale for the condo. The lot was vacant for years according to EV Grieve above (who's very reliable in my experience - I live in the East Village) and the building there now appears to date only to 2008. Of course, the land may have been sold to someone earlier whose plan went bust.

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
10. Yes, that's the story.
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:50 PM
Apr 2014

Right down to Honey, the old man's cat. The author talks a little more about the incident in her book's afterward.

pscot

(21,023 posts)
9. 172 Stanton Street, at the corner of Clinton Street
Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:49 PM
Apr 2014

There was apparently a lot of this going on. Landlords wanted to "develop" rent controlled buildings. Condemnation was the easiest way to get it done. Mayor Giulliani showed up for this one.

http://www.tenant.net/Tengroup/Metcounc/Feb98/stanton.html

Do not write ' collapse, '" Lower East Side City Councilmember Margarita Lopez instructs me. We are speaking at a meeting where the shocked and homeless former residents of a neighborhood tenement summarily razed by the city four days earlier have gathered to discuss their options. "They demolished that building," says Lopez. "' Collapse ' is blank."

There were at least 20 tenants living in 172 Stanton Street, at the corner of Clinton Street, which was destroyed by a city wrecking crane on the evening of Saturday, January 24, as the horrified residents looked on across police barricades. The tenants, all rent-controlled or rent-stabilized, were Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Jews and Bengalis. At least 10 were children. They are now considering litigation against the city.

Residents were ousted from the building on no notice at around 9 AM by the Fire Department knocking on their apartment doors. They were told to throw on some clothes and leave the building immediately, allegedly because the building faced imminent collapse--a claim the tenants contest.

Police immediately secured the empty building as the ejected tenants milled on the sidewalk. They were not allowed back in, but they say workers from the Mayors Office of Emergency Management (OEM) repeatedly assured them they would be allowed to remove their belongings before the building was demolished. They also say that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani dropped by during the morning to confer with the OEM personnel on the scene.

At 8: 30 PM, demolition commenced. Despite hours of promises, no tenants were allowed in to retrieve any personal items. The wrecking crane tore into fully furnished apartments.

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