by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
CHINATOWN NYC, Aug 30 -- A three-alarm fire killed four people and emptied the apartment building at 80 Madison Street in Chinatown early on June 20, 2023.
It was 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, will the City's Adams administration see a pattern here and react?
Jump cut to August 30, 2023 - another Chinatown fire, at 51 Bayard, photo here. Now what? Watch this site - Inner City Press' Downtown News Service.
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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