‘People Are Panicking:’ Jackson Heights Man Displaced By Fire

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — A Jackson Heights resident, who is one of hundreds to be displaced from his home after a fire earlier this month, confronted Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday about supporting Queens fire victims who are now living in hotels.

Andrew Sokolof Diaz, the co-president and co-founder of the 89th Street Tenant Union, called into the Brian Lehrer Show imploring the mayor to indefinitely extend the hotel stay of residents displaced by an 8-alarm fire in Jackson Heights earlier this month, which injured 25 and left over 200 families homeless — including himself, his wife, their two-month-old daughter, and their dog.

“We really can’t be strung along week to week, people are panicking in their rooms,” he said of the former residents of 89-07 and 89-11 34 Ave., who are now living across the city in hotels.

“Please commit to an indefinite extension of the hotels in Queens as close as possible to Jackson Heights so that we can live in dignity after this crisis,” Sokolof Diaz said, expressing concern that a failure to extend hotel stays will mean that displaced residents have to live in shelters.

“We’re local street vendors who are essential workers, we are public workers who work for the city,” he said adding “there is so much to lose. We are really, really depending on you to do right by us and not forget us.”

De Blasio said that for now he plans to extend the hotel stay for displaced families, and will try to figure out a long term solution for those who were displaced by the fire, adding that he wants “people to be as close to their community as possible.”

“This was a horrible devastating fire, hundreds of people affected, and we need to protect you and your family and help you through this,” De Blasio said promising Sokolof Diaz “we’re not going to forget Andrew or any of these families.”

However, with families spread across the city, tenants say that extending hotel stays alone is not enough.

“How do you expect us to commute on public transportation? How do you expect us to go to our doctor’s appointments or check in with our community? We need to be close,” a 73-year-old resident of the building, who is now living in a hotel in Jamaica, told the Jackson Heights Post at a news conference this week in Jackson Heights.

The news conference brought together dozens of residents and Queens elected officials, who pledged to help those affected by the fire.

“We want people to stay in their neighborhood. That means any hotels in this neighborhood need to be filled,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said, reported the Jackson Heights Post.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was also in attendance, added "we need to fight so that children can stay in their schools, so that people can keep all members of their families [together]– including their little pets and loved ones – and we can return to normal. I want you all to know that each and every one of us is here for you, and we are working hard.”

Ocasio-Cortez and Richards were joined by Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas and New York State Senator Jessica Ramos — who represents District 13, which includes Jackson Heights, and was among the first elected officials to encourage people to donate to the tenants union after the blaze.

The GoFundMe originally setup on behalf of the 89th Street Tenant Union has now raised over $336,000 of its $450,000 goal.

There are many other GoFundMe’s being organized on behalf of a handful of individual families, as well as one fundraiser to keep residents and their pets together, and another gathering supplies for displaced students and families at Middle College High School.

Here’s a list of GoFundMe’s for individual families:
Ayudemos a la familia Guevara obtener un hogar
Post Fire Fund for Fajardo Family
Help the Sanchez Fuentes Family Find A New Home
Rogelio & Petra Garcia Help to get a New Home
Farciert sister's Fire Relief Fund
Help The Hernandez Family

Today, after ten days of investigation, the fire department announced that the massive blaze was caused by an overloaded power strip, the NY Daily News reported.