Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Great Wallabout Chopstick Storage Collapse Examined

March 29th, 2008 · No Comments

If you remember our post on March 12 about the 10 tons of chopsticks that caused a collapse at a StorageMart where refugees of the illegal matzo bakery induced clearance of 475 Kent Avenue were storing belongs, then this follow up detail will be of interest. Yesterday, Jake Mooney posted a story on the CityRoom that will appear in tomorrow’s City Section about the collapse. Here’s an excerpt:

But there is something about the details, they have found, that moves people to wisecracks. Mostly the fact that, as Carly Sullivan, a spokeswoman from the city Department of Buildings confirmed this week, the Brooklyn storage locker collapse originated in a unit on an upstairs floor that was holding thousands of pounds of chopsticks. The utensils, packed tightly into boxes, got too heavy and caused the floor to collapse, breaking a water pipe and flooding units below.

Mr. Clark’s run of bad luck is the subject of the Dispatches feature in this week’s City section, and building residents said there were other 475 Kent refugees in a similar position. Kirk Edwards, who, like Mr. Clark, is a photographer, said that he had moved his possessions out of the StorageMart at 50 Wallabout Street, the site of the collapse, just days before it happened. (Mr. Clark moved most of his things out too, but had left some behind, and that was what was damaged.) Several residents also mentioned a neighbor who may have had his prized record collection in the lockers, though I wasn’t able to track him down for confirmation.

Read the full story, it’s got some great detail about the ironic Chopstick-Matzo Connection at 475 Kent.

Tags: Wallabout