by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
CHINATOWN NYC, June 20 -- A three-alarm fire killed four people and emptied the apartment building at 80 Madison Street in Chinatown early on June 20.
It is the most recent in a spate of local fires, about which Chinatown residents are asking more and more questions. Inner City Press interviewed several, pressed up against the yellow police tape on Catherine Street.
"This is the third fire," said a woman who gave her name only as Tonya. Another man blamed the fire on the e-bike repair store on the first floor of 80 Madison, which it emerged -- through FDNY chainsaws -- had spread bike parts into the newsstand next door.
A pile of torched e-bikes and scooters, with torn cardboard and yellow tape, stood in front of Catherine Deli and Bagels, a neighborhood standby. It had a Closed sign dangling where the front door had been.
One local asked loudly, "Where are the electeds?" The primary for City Council is on June 27, and posters plaster the neighborhood. Will the City's Adams administration see a pattern here and react? Watch this site - Inner City Press' Downtown News Service.
Back on March 24, 2023 an apartment building burned down at 47 Mott Street in Chinatown. Inner City Press covered it.
Local Assemblymember Grace Lee said the building has been owned by the Lin Sing Association. Inner City Press was told by Red Cross personnel at the police Do Not Cross tape that more than 20 families have been displaced.
As of June 20, 47 Mott Street remains plywooded over.
Inner City Press will continue to cover Chinatown and its struggles, through its Downtown News Service. Photo here. Watch this site.
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