Both the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the Brooklyn Paper covered the outrage of Monroe Place resident Jeffrey Smith over what he claimed was the lack of security at a brownstone currently under renovation. Jared Kushner bought 38 Monroe Place and several other properties here to convert into McMansionstones (hey think that will catch on?) recently. Smith told reporters that he’d filed two complaints windows and entrances left open there with the Department of Buildings but was not happy with their response.
And why is he freaking out? Perhaps the irony of the Brooklyn Paper photo of him actually trespassing on the property he’s complaining about being open to trespass? Not that at all. We’ll let his AWESOME comment to the Brooklyn Paper speak for itself, Jack:
Brooklyn Paper: “Unsecured buildings in this area are a classic prequel to you know what,” he said. “That’s surgical arson, daddy-o.”
You know just like Henry Hill:
Ok, maybe notsomuch and he might have a point:
Brooklyn Eagle: “It’s irresponsible,” Smith said on Saturday, pointing out the open garden floor window and unlocked basement hatch. “There are holes in the floor, meaning there are no fire breaks. It’s a bomb ready to go off.”
“Leaving a building like this has always been a prequel to serious fires in the Heights,” he said, mentioning a previous fire at 27 Monroe Place and a fire at the Hotel Margaret that occurred years ago. “It’s part of a syndrome of valuable properties being exposed to fire, when simple, off-the-shelf technology is available. The bottom line is this building needs alarm and fire suppression devices.”
The Eagle adds the the FDNY chose to do nothing because no trash was found in the building. NYPD responded to reports of “strangers” in the building but they were gone before PoPo rolled up.
The Brooklyn Paper updated its report at 3:20pm on Tuesday saying the building had been secured. They also changed their headline to: UPDATE: Bklyn Heights building secured, thanks to our article.
