George Floyd statue
vandalized with white
in Carroll Gardens building collapse supremacist graffi ti
The bust of George Floyd at
Flatbush Junction, defaced with
spray paint. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
COURIER LIFE, JULY 2-8, 2021 5
information that this building
might collapse and those warnings
were not heeded then at
minimum we need to learn the
lessons.”
The local pol – who is currently
in the lead in the race to
be the city’s next comptroller
— drew a connection to the disastrous
collapse of a 12-story
condo tower in Surfside, Florida,
on June 24, where at least
10 people have died and another
151 are unaccounted for
as of Monday evening, according
to the Miami Herald.
“What happened in Miami
is a sobering reminder that
this is urgent stuff,” Lander
said. “We got incredibly lucky
last year that no one died on
Court Street.”
While the cases involve
two very different buildings
in cities with varying building
regulations, the tower in the
Sunshine State also showed
warning signs years before,
with a 2018 engineer’s report
warning of major structural
damage, the New York Times
reported.
Nothing to worry about,
says DOB
A DOB spokesman said
that New York has some of
the strongest building codes
in the world, which they will
continue to enforce.
“The building collapse in
Florida is a shocking tragedy,
and we continue to hope
that rescue crews will be able
to fi nd more survivors at the
site,” said Andrew Rudansky
in a statement. “While we
don’t know yet what caused
the collapse, New Yorkers
should know that our city has
among the strongest building
codes and most stringent highrise
inspection programs anywhere
in the world. We will
continue to diligently enforce
these regulations as the safety
of our fellow New Yorkers is
our highest priority.”
The city has periodic inspection
programs required
for larger buildings, which
legally have to undergo several
different inspections by
construction and design professionals
every year, and the
agency can immediately order
a building to be vacated or issue
emergency orders to address
hazardous conditions.
State Sen. Brian Kavanagh,
who also signed onto the letter
with Lander last year, said
cases like the one in Carroll
Gardens can be hard to prosecute
on a criminal level unless
offi cials can show there was
intent, but the lawmaker said
he was eager to see DOI release
the report to see if there
are any civil charges.
“It’s diffi cult to establish
criminal liabilities but there
are serious penalties that can
be imposed if the owner has
been negligent,” the state lawmaker
said in an interview.
“We do want a full accounting
of the extent to which the city
and the buildings department,
whether there’s something we
can learn from that experience
and whether the city can
do more.”
Just weeks before the
gym collapse, DOB inspectors
found construction workers
removing bricks from the
bulging side wall on June 10,
and immediately issued a Stop
Work Order, telling the owner
to install a sidewalk shed and
hire an engineer to study the
stability of the entire building.
Workers set up the sheds a
few days later, but DOB never
got the report, Rudansky told
this reporter at the time.
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Racist vandals desecrated
a statue of George
Floyd in Flatbush on Thursday
morning, spray painting
black paint on the monument’s
head and leaving
behind the insignia of a notorious
white supremacist
group.
The statue — a 500-pound
wooden bust of Floyd’s profi
le at Flatbush Junction —
was unveiled last weekend
as part of borough-wide Juneteenth
celebrations, and
was made by artist Chris
Carnabuci in partnership
with social justice-oriented
art group ConfrontART
and Floyd Family nonprofi t
We Are Floyd Foundation.
But shocked passersby
on Thursday were dismayed
to fi nd the graffi ti and the
sign of the group Patriot
Front, which is listed by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
as a white nationalist
hate group.
Councilmember Farah
Louis, who represents the
area, described the defacement
of the statue as an act
of terrorism.
“This was a form of a
hate crime, and for us it was
also a form of a terrorist attack
on our community,”
Louis told Brooklyn Paper.
“This statue represents a lot
of things for our community
and we feel that it was disrespectful
and disgraceful.”
“It’s evident that they’re
trying to send a clear message
to us,” Louis continued.
“And we have a clear
message for them: that this
will not be accepted in our
community.”
Terrence Floyd, George’s
Brooklyn-based brother
who helms the We Are Floyd
Foundation, was not available
for comment at the
statue’s location, as he was
on a fl ight to Minneapolis
Thursday afternoon to attend
tomorrow’s sentencing
of Derek Chauvin, the police
offi cer who was found
guilty of murdering Floyd
last year.
“It is disgusting and sad
that this transpired the day
before the sentencing of
Derek Chauvin,” said Courtney
Nelson, a representative
for the Floyd family. “And
honestly, it just let us know
that we were doing the right
thing.”
The NYPD is conducting
an investigation into
the matter and has deemed
the incident a possible hate
crime, but has not identifi ed
any suspects. Cops are looking
into security footage
from the area to see if they
can fi nd anything, a police
spokesperson said.
Louis said that cleanup
and restoration will begin
this afternoon. The bust was
covered with a tarp after the
damage was discovered, and
the area was blocked off by
police tape.
Lindsey Eschelman, of
ConfrontART, said that the
statue is intended to go on
tour, with its next stop being
Union Square, though that
may get delayed due to the
vandalism. She told Brooklyn
Paper that “QAnon people”
are talking about her
online, which she fi nds troubling;
she said she had to set
her Instagram to private
this morning.
“I didn’t expect myself as
an art producer to be starting
to get tagged in QAnon
things on social media,” Eschelman
said. “It’s alarming.”
This isn’t the fi rst time
Patriot Front’s insignia
has appeared on artwork of
Floyd. Earlier this month, a
mural of Floyd in Philadelphia
was defaced with the
group’s logo.
OF REGULATION
Photo by Todd Maisel