HHA Bombshell: "6 Buildings Without Fire Suppression"

Fire at 300 Washington Street

Let's put aside the 'Jake is a Meanie' theater at the HHA meeting last night- as told to GA by a witness, residents wore protest t-shirts:

The t shirts were white - the front said "Benedict Jake" Zimmer Puppet and it had an effigy of Jake as a puppet on strings. The back said, "The HHA Knows Jake Must Go!" I heard that Calicchio and Waiters were passing them out. (redacted)'s children were wearing the shirts as well as some other young children there. About 25 people had those shirts on. Occasionally they would get up and turn their backs on the board to show that "HHA knows Jake must Go!" 

That all works inside the room.

What won't work outside the room is a devastating fire inspection report that was given by HFD Chief Blohm last night.

Fire at 105 11th Street

Blohm is no a Zimmer fan, so his appearance at the HHA to presentation his scathing inspection  findings, is a measure of the gravity and threat posed  to the lives of hundreds of HHA residents.  The buck stops with the person in charge of the management of these buildings, the HHA Executive Director.

What were some of Blohm's findings?

Fire at 110 1st Street- McSwiggan's Bar

The Fire Code violations at the HHA include (but are not limited to) 6 buildings without working generators, fire panels, pumps- NO FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS.

GA's new Smart Phone

From a witness: 'Carmelo didn't know the generators were down."

Followed by back and forth about how the generators on the ground were damaged by Hurricane Sandy's salt water.  And something about mice eating wires.

GA's got questions.

Didn't the HHA get federal money for generator platforms after Hurricane Irene?  To raise them 3 feet off the ground?

If the HHA did get this grant, but didn't raise the generators, what happened to the money?

If the generators were damaged by Sandy's saltwater, did the HHA file a claim with FEMA?

Take away everything else said in the room last night, the utter failure of the HHA Executive Director to protect residents in  6 fully-occupied   buildings in the event of a fire, "not knowing" their generators were down-  in the private sector this would be cause for immediate termination 'for cause'.  It's stunning to me.

The HHA residents in those 6 buildings should be screaming their heads off.  And not at Jake.

 

Deadly fire at 1203 Washington Street

The staged hijinks might have owned the room last night, but surely the DCA and HUD get copies of the fire inspection reports. 

And the Commissioners on the Board must deal with the gravity of these findings; with a potential loss of life if G-d forbid, any of those buildings caught fire. 

Fire at 200 Clinton Street lumber yard

Here is more from inside the room last night:

The HFD charged them $100k for the fire watch because none of the fire panels worked nor did six of the generators. Whenever jake or mello would ask carmelo why they were not functional, he'd dance around the questions and said the mice ate the wires, there was salt water damage, the risk management inspectors found it and it's their fault, it was crazy, etc. No accountability at all. The people in the room fed off of carmelo's chaos. Of course, when you sound like God booming in the room, they're going to praise you. Those guys need bullhorns. It is sick and disgusting on how carmelo's mic is so loud. You can't hear the retorts at all. Carmelo has the 'God on High' mic and jake and the commissioners have Lucifer's.

Fire at 159 14th Street

it is bad for carmelo out of the room. From my perspective carmelo's handling of the safety systems in the buildings is abyssmal. Before the storm, generators weren't working, fire panels didn't work, etc. It appears that he has no control on inspection schedules, maintenance, etc. Blohm also said that in the past an exit door was nailed shut (or jerry-rigged) in some way because the person performing maintenance (painting) had blocked egress from the building because they had blocked fire exits. So, the maintenance staff isn't properly trained. It looks like there are just goons walking around with wrenches. Those people are in such danger there, but they don't care because carmelo is their leader. Blohm said (I think) that he imposed a $10K fine in the past about nailing doors shut (or jerry-rigging) because of the painting bullshit. It has been going on in several buildings multiple times. 

Fire at 1200 Madison Street

GA calls Hoboken the Land of No Consequences.  Are there consequences outside of Hoboken for this kind of negligence?

There are no inspection reports or maintenance reports. Blohm said there must be a paper trail. Carmelo blamed it on the previous administration that there are no records. So, he's trying to get retroactive permits to fix everything. The risk management inspectors discovered that the generators were inoperable. That is when carmelo found out. When asked why didn't you know before then, that's when the spun it around and said the mice ate the wires. It doesn't answer the question. When asked about the maintenance records, he said that the HHA in Newark said he did an amazing job after Sandy and he is to be commended. Again no answer to the question. When asked again between mello and jake, he would say that he will provide it to you next week, next month, or I told you, the mice ate the wires! Just incoherent LOUD responses that sounded valid in the room. The crowd would cheer his every response.