By Sophia Chang
Several trucks from Engine 160 were at the center to assist with the inspection, which was done to prevent any future problems, said Robert Sweeney, assistant fire chief of Queens. The center was occupied at the time of the inspection, but evacuation was not necessary, he said.
Harvey Goodman, president of the center and a TimesLedger columnist, said the building will remain open during the repairs and that scaffolding was already erected.
“The building is not in any danger of collapse,” he said. “In one particular area, some of the bricks were loose, and we immediately called an engineer and the Buildings Department to look at it. Within an hour after the report was done, the scaffolding was up.”
Goodman said the center has made an appointment with the Buildings Department to officially submit plans that were informally approved Friday at the site by the Buildings inspector. He anticipated that fixing the wall would “probably take a couple of weeks.”
“There was no negligence involved,” Goodman said. “We would never put anybody in danger.”
