Four-alarm East Side blaze under investigation
An emergency response to a fire at 37th Street and Third Avenue on March 23.
BY MARK HALLUM
Fire marshals are investigating
what sparked a
four-alarm inferno at an
apartment building on the East
Side Tuesday afternoon.
A patient in NYU Langone
Hospital said he could smell
the smoke well inside the building
when a six-story tenement
structure went up in fl ames on
March 23, sending a column of
smoke into the sky and obscuring
the line of sight for pedestrians
around Second Avenue and 37th
Street.
FDNy made a big appearance
with dozens of crews responding
and fi nding space for engines all
the way up to 40th Street while
cops blocked off Second Avenue
at 42nd Street.
“No injuries. Fortunate no
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
civilian injuries, and I was just
told as with this briefi ng, no fi re
department injuries as well. Fire
Marshals are on scene. They’re
actively trying to determine the
cause,” FDNY Deputy Chief
Brendan McSweeney said
According to McSweeney, the
fi re started in the higher levels of
the building, eventually shooting
through the roof, and while the
fi re marshals were still on scene
by 5 p.m. trying to determine a
cause for the fi re, only at least
three to four apartments had been
impacted.
McSweeney said at the time
there were no civilian or fi refi
ghter injuries resulting from the
blaze that seemed to dominate
the skyline in Lower Manhattan
for a time.
IMAGE COURTESY OF NICOLE OLOTKA
Images taken from an apartment at 38th Street around
4 p.m.
Hundreds march to call for Cuomo’s impeachment
BY DEAN MOSES
The call for Governor Andrew
Cuomo to be removed from offi ce
is growing with one collective cry
that reverberated through Downtown
Manhattan on March 20.
An army of protest organizers, elected
offi cials, candidates running for offi ce,
and community members rallied beneath
the Washington Square Arch and pounding
sun in Lower Manhattan where they
demanded Cuomo undergo impeachment
proceedings as soon as possible. Between
300 and 400 individuals encircled speakers
such as Assembly member Ron Kim and
State Senator Jabari Brisport who not only
called for the Governor’s immediate removal,
but also took the embattled head of
state to task for the lack of resources aiding
the homeless community, essential workers
who did not receive any stimulus help, and
the thousands of nursing home seniors who
died from COVID-19 exposure. Onlookers
unleashed a cacophony of cheers as one by
one those in attendance declared it is time
for Cuomo to go.
Performing what they called a “Die in” protesters throw their bodies
on the roadway
“We are gathered under this beautiful
sun learning of yet another woman now
actively in Governor Cuomo’s offi ce is
being sexual violated by the Governor
of New York State,” Jawamza James Williams,
the director of organizing at Vocal
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
NY said.
Williams is no stranger to protesting
Cuomo, in fact he was arrested on March
10th for blocking the road outside of the
Governor’s Midtown offi ce in an attempt
to garner attention for the hardships faced
by the homeless, in addition to the standing
in solidarity with the now nine women
who have come forward accusing Cuomo
of sexual misconduct and inappropriate
behavior, one of whom spoke to the crowd.
Lindsey Boylan—the very fi rst accuser to
bring these issues to light and candidate for
Manhattan Borough President—told those
gathered that there is more to her than just
being another name in the laundry list of
alleged victims.
“If you have only learned my name in the
last month please know I am much more
than a story you heard in the news—all
women are. I am here today because New
York deserves a progressive government
that will fi ght for working people, right now
New York is in the midst of multiple crises
but the powerful just aren’t delivering. We
need affordable housing, we need climate
change, we need equal pay and equal
respect for equal work,” Boylan said, adding,
“When the Governor should have been
focused on leading us out of this pandemic,
he was, instead, focused on covering up the
deaths of 15,000 New Yorkers and smearing
me and my reputation.”
Schneps Media March 25, 2021 3