During the December 11 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Safety Department Community Engagement Meeting, I asked PSD Chief Kevin Brown if there was any update on the cause of November 15 fire at Roosevelt Landings (560 Main Street) that killed resident Catherine Same Mahouve and injured 3 firefighters. The last information we had was that the cause of the fire was being investigated by the NYC Fire Department Marshals.
Chief Brown reported:
We don’t know what the cause is. The fire marshals have been working tirelessly. We don’t have the cause at this time…
Chief Brown addressed the complaints of some community members that PSD was not helpful in collecting funds or clothing for the victims of the fire.
According to Chief Brown:
… Why would someone or a couple of people in the community want PSD to distribute funds and collect clothing when the Red Cross was here to do it? That’s not our job. It’s not in our wheel house.
If it was something that we could have helped with, we probably would have helped to do it. But the people who are experts at doing the job, they were here to do the job and they helped out the family. And the family was very appreciative of what PSC did for them. The people who were saying things, they had no skin in the game. They had no idea what PSD was doing….
I also asked Chief Brown about some reports that alarms did not sound in the building warning residents of the fire. Chief Brown said:
… I have two independent witnesses who said that the fire alarms were there. I spoke to my captain and I could not hear him because he was in the building with the fire alarms going. They were raging. I could not hear him. That’s what I I heard about the fire alarms….
On December 15, I asked FDNY:
… Has there been any determination of the cause?
A FDNY spokesperson replied later that day:
Nov. 15 – 560 Main St., Roosevelt Island
Cause – Electrical wiring
I asked representatives of Roosevelt Landings if they knew the cause of the fire. A spokesperson for C+C Apartment Management replied:
We remain deeply saddened by the tragic fire last month at 560 Main Street and our thoughts continue to be with those affected. While it’s premature to speculate about the cause of the incident prior to the FDNY issuing its report, we will continue to assist our residents and support the broader community throughout the recovery process.
The Public Safety Department was NEVER asked to receive ffunds for the victims. and the Red Cross did not supply the victim with a single stitch of clothing.
I personally asked the PSD officer at the desk if the Public Safety Departmet would allow us to use the PSD office as a safe place to deliver clothing ONLY, NO FUNDS for the daughter of the victim. I would have asked for clothing for her son as well but did not immediately know his size and the daughter’s need for clothing was immediate.
The desk personnel AGREED that we cold have a bag for clothing at the front desk. Had she not agreed, I would not have created the email request to our building association’s email list.
Keep in mind that the Landings is the only building on Roosevelt Island that does not have a door station to watch over donations. The red cross provided no clothing whatsoever.
Justine didn’t even have a pair of pajamas to get her through the night nor a change of underwear for the next day. They did not even give her any funds to get to the shelter after her mother was declared dead when the medical inspector finally arrived at 3:30 in the morning.
PSD claimed they told me I had 72 hours to remove the clothing, another outright lie. They told me nothing of the sort. What they told me, AFTER I sent the email to our building, that we could not leave the clothing there. I told them I would be back to pick them up with Justine. We returned within 48 hours to hear they gave the clothing to the Red Cross who did not even want the clothing. They gave the collection to Goodwill.
I have seen horrific deficiencies in how the Public Safety Department operates through the years, but Chief Brown’s behavior, along with the lies and misrepresentations about PSD’s actions are the height of callous disregard for the victims.
The wiring in our building is faulty. management has ignored the situation for years. the heaters catch on fire and the wiring in the wall sockets burn. L&M, our landlord has failed to demonstrate they are in any way capable of being a good steward for electricity and should never be granted the right to submeter.
Joyce Short has faulty thinking about what the Red Cross does. As a former Red Cross Disaster Action Team Supervisor, I’ve responded to many fires in Metro NYC, including on Roosevelt Island. When Red Cross arrives at fire in NYC, they provide immediate service to the family, including providing clothing, water, snacks; and they make immediate arrangements for temporary housing, a small amount of financial support (e.g., clothing, food), disaster medical services (arranging for lost medication), disaster mental health services (support, which extends further if there are fatalities), disaster spiritual services (if they’d like to contact a priest, rabbi, imam, etc.); and all clients are assigned a caseworker to address their individual needs. Unlike the rest of the country, NYC has strong agency support for housing (HPD), social services (DSS), and such – so beyond the first day or two, typically in a hotel, Red Cross is working with the City to find temporary housing for the next weeks/months as needed during the client’s recovery. This is all explained in a brochure that responders hand to each client.
FYI, Pubic Safety did contact me afterward and I connected them with dispatch at the Red Cross of Greater New York.
In my experience, typically within 30-45 minutes of meeting a client, Red Cross has immediate housing set up (a hotel for a couple days) and immediate financial support (a pre-loaded debit card). At that point, the client has a point of contact for Red Cross, and Red Cross staff are working on the several kinds of immediate support services that they are providing the clients.
Red Cross is a 24/7/365 operation: so if the first response van isn’t enough, a second response van is dispatched to provide additional support. Furthermore, support for clients is continuous over Red Cross responder shifts, e.g., a third response van in the next shift – such as for clients who live in the fire unit but were not home at the time of the fire.
The goal for Red Crossers is to give clients a chance to “Catch a Breath”, which is typically the 48-72 hours right after the incident (a couple days more if it occurs on a weekend or holiday). When Red Cross arrives at a fire, they have some basic clothing supplies, including blankets, as they need to support infants, children, adults, and a range of sizes. For adult clothing, it is generally sweat pants and sweat shirts – nothing fancier – as these are good enough for waking hours and sleeping. Clients, with their immediate financial support, can choose to buy some clothes if they want (e.g., shirt and pants) as for some families, the next day involves school for the children and work for the adults.
Typically, Red Cross does not take food or clothing donations, as there potential sanitary/hygienic issues and the actual clients’ needs (typically) are mismatched with what the public actually donates. Sure, neighbors and the public mean well, but in practice there is a mismatch in needs. These donations are better handled by Salvation Army or Goodwill.
When Joyce says “the Red Cross did not supply the victim with a single stitch of clothing […] The red cross provided no clothing whatsoever”, I find that very hard to believe: this is a basic function for every Red Cross response to a fire and every response van has a supply of clothing, and a second response van would be sent if that were not enough.
When Joyce says “Justine didn’t even have a pair of pajamas to get her through the night nor a change of underwear for the next day”, again I find this hard to believe. While Red Cross doesn’t stock PJs in its response vans, they do have sweat pants and sweat shirts.
When Joyce says “They did not even give her any funds to get to the shelter after her mother was declared dead”, again I find this hard to believe. The Red Cross immediate financial support would have covered enough for transportation.
When Joyce says “We returned within 48 hours to hear they gave the clothing to the Red Cross who did not even want the clothing”, that sounds about right because that’s not how they manage disasters in NYC, another organization (Salvation Army, Goodwill) would be a better choice for those kinds of donations.
Disclaimer: I’m not speaking on behalf of the Red Cross, I’m just reporting my personal experiences.
Frank was not there with Justine. I was, until approximately 4 AM. The red cross did not bring her food or clothes and if Frank thinks getting on the subway to a shelter at 4 AM is adequate care for a woman who lost her mother and everything she owns in a fire, he is simply showing his disassociation with what the word “care” actually means.
Frank’s “personal experiences” has absolutely NOTHING to do with what took place that night. Frank has a long history of attempting to trounce the efforts of people who help to make our community a better place, as if doing so will make him appear to be a knowledgeable party even though he has no knowledge of the actual facts of the event.
Nothing unusual here. PSD has been an overpaid, expensive waste for years, since Chief Brown fell into the job. It’s up to CEO Jones to clean up this longstanding brew of incompetence and dishonestly.
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Catch and Kill.” Public Safety is paid by RIOC to catch and kill any public recording of crime in our neighborhood so that criminal acts never get publicly disclosed. RIOC is the real estate management arm of NY State on Roosevelt Island.
Crime reports in a neighborhood lower the real estate values there. RIOC’s job is to protect NY State’s real estate investment here, and therefore PSD’s job, is to keep a lid on crime reports to insure they don’t negatively impact those values.
They could keep crime stats down by being a serious policing entity, or by “catching and killing” real incidents that occur. They have chosen to travel the catch & kill path.
When an incident is spotted by the public eye, Chief Brown goes into CYA mode to cover PSD’s butts. Hence his cover up for their behavior regarding the clothing collection for the fire victims. Their behavior was despicable.
Residents who think that reporting a crime to PSD is the same as reporting a crime to NYPD are mistaken. It should be that way, but its not. In fact, when a building resident attacked me with her umbrella in the lobby of my building, I immediately went to PSD to report the crime. They viewed the actual camera footage of the attack which showed it clearly. They wrote is as “harassment” and never contacted NYPD so it would not be on the police record. When I asked why it wasn’t reported, I was told, “It’s not our job, you can report it yourself.”
I did and was issued a Temporary Restraining Order for an aggravated menace. The woman was arrested. That would not have happened if left up to PSD, and I would have lived in constant fear of riding my elevator or being in my lobby.
Until PSD is not controlled by RIOC, and is headed by NYPD, who uphold the law based on NY State’s actual penal code, “Catch & Kill” will prevail.
Completely agree, there needs to be a restructuring of the entire PSD office on Roosevelt Island. It is as if a corrupt organization partrols and has authority over this island but the people who live here for years and care for the community are disregarded. I have never had a pleasant experience with PSD officers, the officers themselves need to be better trained and have more care for the public instead of enforcing their draconian ways. I understand the need for Public Safety Department on Roosevelt Island but they don’t do anything to protect the public. I have caught many homeless people sleeping in my building 540 Main Street and other people who are not tenants of the building smoking and drinking in the hallways. PSD needs to do a better job at protecting the public and not voicing their opinions of the public comments online. More accountability needs to happen and I promise it will!
I agree, PSD is more of a glorified HOA security team or mall cop team. They are there but in time of need they are too limited to do any good. It is shameful.
too many bosses .
there is a reason why there is not one christmas tree in any of the lobbies in any building in roosevelt landings .thats because its like the buildings in the nyc housing. packages get stolen in the lobby and nothing is done about it, public safety doses nothing about it,,management has ca meras in the lobby but it not used to see who takes the packages …..paying over 4000 a month rent for this………..
After the fire, I arranged with 9 million reasons for the son and daughter to go there and could receive what ever clothing they needed. They were more than willing to provide them with whatever they needed.
Red Cross was on the scene with no clothing and no food. Justine was forced by the police to wait in the hallway until 3:30 in the AM for the medical examiner. Red Cross didn’t even knock on a neighbor’s door to get her water or a chair to sit on while she waited or find a neighbor who would let her use the bathroom if she needed one.
Justine needed immediate help.
Roosevelt Landings is a community. When a person is injured in our community, we help them. Not just by making a phone call, but by actually supplying the help they need.
BTW- Red Cross came and left quickly. They were not there to give her the emotional support she needed.