Vol. 79/No. 14      April 20, 2015

The “working theory is that one or more gas lines were surreptitiously tapped,” the New York Times said March 31.

The New York Post reported April 6 that a plumber working on the lines confessed “to rigging a gas-supply system for apartments” in the building, saying the landlord’s son ordered him to do it.

New York police and prosecutors are considering criminal homicide charges against the landlord, his contractor and workers involved in installing the pipes, the April 6 New York Daily News said.

Whatever caused this explosion, many residents in the neighborhood told the Militant that jury-rigged set-ups are not uncommon, where many buildings are more than 100 years old.

East Village resident Mary Dillard spoke to Maggie Trowe, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Congress in the 11th District, who visited the area April 5.

After the explosion Fire Department officials inspecting nearby apartments discovered that the line to a friend’s apartment was tapped, Dillard said.

Less than a week later, city officials issued an emergency stop-work order on renovations across the street from the destroyed buildings. After tenants called saying they smelled gas, the Post reported, Con Ed found that lines in the basement had been tapped.

Trowe returned April 6 with Naomi Craine, a Militant reporter who had lived just a block from the site of the explosion.

Some of the local residents Trowe spoke with said the problem is “greedy landlords.”

Danny Basevich, a house painter, said the problem is “corrupt contractors” who tap the gas lines.

Tito Mesa, a retired jewelry maker, told Trowe a lot of buildings have similar problems, “but there’s nothing you can do about it. The whole world works like this.”

“I think workers and our unions need to reject the dog-eat-dog values of this system,” Trowe said. “It’s true the bosses try to maximize their profits, and they push workers to cut corners and close their eyes to dangerous conditions. But a building super or plumber — or any worker — shouldn’t accept their values or agree to do something unsafe.”

“Through class-struggle battles workers become transformed, breaking from the me-first, all-others-be-damned mentality, and embracing human solidarity and self-sacrifice,” Trowe said. “Malcolm X said you had to find your self-worth. This is a bedrock for construction of a revolutionary movement to overthrow capitalism.”

“Striking oil refinery workers are setting an example,” the socialist candidate said. “Their fight is to be able to work safely and ensure the safety of everyone around them.”

‘People change, come together’
Mesa recalled that in the 1970s he was inspired by the fight of farmworkers to unionize. “Little by little they involved more people, and it changed people, they came together more,” he said. “That’s what we need today.”

Referring to widespread corruption and bribery in the city, Dillard told Trowe, “New York is run on a handshake and a wink.” What’s missing, she added, “is a sense of community.”

Trowe agreed, “Workers need to look out for each other and the people around us. And fight to shut down any worksite that is unsafe.”

There are 6,300 miles of natural gas pipes underneath New York City streets, the Times reported, and there are thousands of leaks every year. Nearly half of the gas mains are more than 75 years old and more than half are made of cast iron, wrought iron or unprotected steel, prone to corrosion and cracking.

Con Edison replaced 60 miles of the most deteriorated pipes in 2014 and plans to up this to 70 miles in 2016, company spokesperson Alan Drury told the Militant April 6. At this rate, it would take nearly 30 years to replace the pipes. Drury said Con Edison is “willing to further accelerate the pipe replacement pending future rate cases,” a euphemism for raising gas prices. In an April 7 note he added that some of the “old pipe in the ground … is in excellent condition.”

“The bosses don’t start with how to save lives,” Trowe said after visiting the East Village. “They start with the bottom line. It’s part of the capitalist mentality. Working people have to take the opposite approach.”
 
 
Related articles:
UK communist: ‘Learning comes from struggle’
 
 
 
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