As assessments of collapsed Bronx building continue, residents grow frustrated because they can't retrieve belongings
NEW YORK -- Frustration is reaching a breaking point for the more than 170 residents without a home due to the building that partially collapsed Monday in the Bronx.
They were told by the owner that demolition work would be finished Wednesday so they could retrieve their documents and belongings, but that didn't appear to be happening.
Several additional police officers had to be called in as residents got increasingly frustrated they couldn't go inside. The Department of Buildings said contractors need to take down the collapsed units and only then can people be escorted in.
READ MORE: Bronx building that partially collapsed had 7 open violations, Department of Buildings records say
After days of trying to reach the owner, CBS New York on Wednesday afternoon did speak to someone who said he represents the landlord.
Tenants like Diana Martinez and her husband of 172 Burnside Ave. missed work Wednesday while waiting for the moment they could go inside and get their documents and belongings for their three children.
"It's really hard. We lost everything. So imagine that it's everything, our dreams, my kids' dreams, and it's ridiculous because it's Christmas right around the corner, you know?" Martinez said.
More than 40 families have been without a home since Monday afternoon, when the corner of the building collapsed.
By luck, the building superintendent's 2-year-old granddaughter happened to be at day care instead of in her room, which burst open.
"I have my granddaughter in there, in the room, you know?" Felix Vargas said. "As soon as I go inside the room, I have to run because everything collapse."
He said his three pets are still inside.
READ MORE: Following Monday's collapse, Bronx residents concerned about structural integrity of their buildings
As for repairs, Vargas said he doesn't handle issues with the exterior of the building.
Ben Hertz said he was sent by the owner on Wednesday. He said he doesn't believe the rest of the building will be taken down. Instead, he said he expects the corner of the building to be restored and for residents to be allowed to move back in, because, "That's what the Building Department claims. The owner is working to get them back in as soon as possible."
Among the complaints from residents in the past, Martinez showed CBS New York of her bathroom ceiling that had collapsed, and lights that never turned on in her kitchen.
READ MORE: Residents describe other unsafe conditions at Bronx building that collapsed
Hertz said he couldn't respond to criticism that the landlord wasn't attentive.
"I'm not the manager. I can't tell you (who is the manager is). I don't know," Hertz said.
"Imagine you wake up and they say, 'I wanna go home,' but what home? Right now, we don't have a place to go," Martinez said.
"I came here to support my brother and give him some money because everything is there. They don't have nothing," Kathy Baez said.
Baez said her brother actually had planned to move.
