NYC NOW - December 12, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

The FDNY responded to a roof-top fire near the Hudson River Tuesday morning. Plus, police are investigating after subways hit two men in separate incidents in Brooklyn, killing one and injuring the other. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with Melanie La Rocca, former New York City Buildings Commissioner, about the collapse of a 7-story building that fell suddenly in the Bronx on Monday.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, December 12th. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. The FDNY is on the scene of a rooftop fire on Charlton Street between Hudson and Greenwich streets in Lower Manhattan near the Hudson River. A 911 call just before 10 this morning reported the fire at 102, Charlton, a 25-story residential apartment building with 67.

rental units. About 100 fire and emergency responders are on the scene. There are no reports of injuries, but the FDNY says to use alternate routes if you're in the area. The Bronx DA is now among the authorities investigating yesterday's building collapse in the Bronx. A spokesperson for DA Darcel Clark says they're working with FDNY officials and the buildings department. The partial collapse of the seven-story residential building on Billingsley Terrace happened about 3.30 yesterday afternoon. Zovayas Tabaraca works down the street from the building and describes what he saw. We're walking and we only saw the smoke, you know, and the people running. When I opened the door, I saw the building fell down.

Late last night, the FDNY confirmed that no trapped victims have been found under the rubble. The building's owner says he does not know what caused the collapse in there, and that he's trying to find new housing for the residents. Police are investigating after Subways hit two men in separate incidents in Brooklyn this morning, killing one and injuring the other who's now in the hospital. Just before midnight, first responders found a 37-year-old man on the tracks at the Stirling Street. subway station in Crown Heights. Officials say a southbound two train struck and killed him.

At 5.30 this morning, police responded to another call of a man hit. This time at the Broadway Marcy Avenue station in Williamsburg. Officials say a J train struck the man. Medics took him to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. It is 40 right now. We'll see Sun for this afternoon and around 43. On WNYC, I'm a lot of. On WNYC, I'm Michael Hill.

Firefighters say no one appears to have died or been trapped in the rubble of a seven-story building that fell suddenly in the Bronx yesterday afternoon. Part of the building collapsed on Billingsley Terrace, and the incident continues to raise questions this morning. Joining us now is Melanie LaRaca, former New York City Buildings Commissioner. Ms. LaRaca, good morning. Good morning, Michael. Thank you for having me.

You're most welcome. Videos taken after the collapse, make it look as if the corner of the building just sort of sheared off. How does something like that happen? In general, what are some root causes of a situation like this? Well, certainly the Department of Buildings, as well as their colleagues throughout a variety of agencies, will be looking very carefully at any videos that were present at the time and even photos prior to the event to see if they can identify any changes in the exterior of the building. Look, building collapses, partial building collapses,

are rare and we're thankful for that. And that is largely due to the laws that are in place that ensure owners are required to routinely check their buildings. There can be a number of reasons why something like what happened yesterday did. We should be thankful, one, that there was no injuries as reported currently, particularly no fatalities as reported currently here. But I think, you know, you'll see in the coming days, the Department of Buildings will be thoroughly reviewing the required local law 11 filings that were done on this building, which is the starting place for buildings of this size to understand a bit more closely what the conditions of that facade were, what the conditions of the exterior walls are and the structural conditions in particular. but certainly they'll be scouring through photos, videos, and the required filings that were submitted here, really to understand how we could have such a structural failure. Our research found at least 100 violations at the building, but that can be common at some older buildings like this one, isn't that right?

The building was almost 100 years old. Anything we can glean from these violations? You know, looking at the violations quickly, you know, it appears. to be sort of a hodgepodge, if you will, of calls that were put in. Obviously, they are, the city is going to look at the violation history, obviously. But there is nothing that, to my eye, jumps out of the page as a clear indicator of where to dig a little deeper. Buildings of this size, building of this age, violations, complaints do happen. That is just a routine course of life.

Violations complaints definitely happen. So that is a place to look, but there is no, again, based on my quick look and the department will do a much more thorough review. There's nothing that sort of is a, you know, definitive answer in that. What can the city do to prevent collapses that's, it may not be doing already? I think, you know, looking across the last couple of years, we've had some instances of partial collapses and complete collapses. And they're oftentimes due to a variety of reasons. Obviously for our older building stocks, and that's not to say we're not, we would not be interested in newer buildings. But given that this building is a bit older in age, maintaining our buildings in the state of good repair is incredibly important.

It is very important for our property owners, particularly these larger buildings, six stories and above, where you have very strong regulations in place around facade inspections. The department recently tightened those facade inspection requirements even more, requiring hands-on inspections on portions on portions of the facade. those things are incredibly important. And then an overall state of well-being, older buildings need care and attention, and they do need work. And that does require a good amount of investment. So I think all of that together, the city and private owners have to work together. And it's going to be true going forward as our stock ages, as our housing stock ages, we'll have to work together and identify opportunities to ensure that the required maintenance, some of which is small, others are quite large and can be quite expensive, does happen.

Former City Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocco, Commissioner, thank you. Thank you. The MTA's congestion pricing plan begins next year to collect tolls from drivers in Manhattan south of 60th Street. But the program's success partly depends on New York City's ability to crack down on so-called ghost plates, meaning drivers who obscure their license plates or use fake plates to avoid paying the tolls. WMIC's Jacqueline Jeffrey Wilenski explains. I'm standing here overlooking the Manhattan exit of the Holland Tunnel. I'm watching cars

trickle out into the gridlocked Manhattan streets. Most of them have regular license plates, although a few have these shiny covers on them that make them very hard to read. The transportation department says its cameras can't make out about 5% of these license plates. We could just in pricing, if somebody can save a lot of money by obscuring their plates, they'll do it. That's New York City Council member Robert Holden. He says he's been a sworn enemy of ghost plates ever since he got stuck behind one in traffic. City data shows the NYPD has written about three quarters more moving violations for ghost plates so far this year compared to 2022. But Sam Schwartz, who once served as the city's traffic commissioner, estimates as many as one in five,

drivers could become toll dodgers once congestion pricing takes effect. He even bought a fake plate on eBay to show how easy it was. So if I was a bad guy, I'd put it on my car and ride around and not worry about cameras being able to track me. Elizabeth Adams of the group transportation alternatives says toll dodgers could drive up the price of congestion pricing for everyone. The MTA plans to charge $15 for passenger vehicles during the day. You know, it's unfair to New Yorkers. It's stealing their taxpayer funds, and it will significantly impact the program itself. Experts and advocates say the city needs to come down harder on toll dodgers, issuing steeper fines, booting cars, and even towing them away in some cases.

Jacqueline Jeffrey Walensky, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.