Another building collapse in NY

[Liberal_in_LA]

Four-story building collapses in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A four-story residential building collapsed Sunday in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, and at least four people suffered minor injuries, according to the New York City Fire Department.

The cause of the midday collapse of the building on Myrtle Avenue between Ryerson and Hall streets was not immediately known. All residents of the building were accounted for, authorities said.

Three people were given medical attention at the scene and a fourth person was taken to a Brooklyn hospital, said a fire department spokesman. It was not clear whether any of the injured lived in the building.

The New York Department of Buildings said residents in six adjacent buildings were told to leave those structures as investigators worked to determine the cause of the collapse.

A spokeswoman for that department confirmed that the owner of the collapsed building was cited in May after inspectors noticed several vertical cracks on an exterior wall.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/21/new.york.building.collapse/index.html

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Did Larry Silverstein own the building?

:tinfoilhat:

[lindisfarne]

2. I've never heard of occupied buildings simply collapsing in a US metro area, outside of NY.n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. I had the same thought.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Many Of These Buildings are 100 years old or older...

They were put up quick to accomodate the large number of immigrants coming into the country. There were few building codes at the time and, while upgraded over the years, had many structural flaws that only have gotten worse over time. Other cities don't have these problems as their older neighborhoods have either been torn down or rotted away decades ago.

[MADem]

5. Used to happen all the time in Iran.

Then Shah made new buildings use I beams. Before that it was just prayer and camel shit holding many of them together.

When they had that large earthquake not too long ago, it was in a town with a lot of old style construction, which added to the death toll.

[Greyhound]

6. There were two the year I lived in Chicago. Don't think it made national

news, though. In both cases the owners of the building were repeatedly cited and they just ignored them.

[doc03]

7. There have been several in Wheeling WV

the last couple years some occupied some not. This area has been in a recession for like 30 years. The downtown district is almost all vacant buildings, we joke it looks like Baghdad. The Walmart effect.