Bushwick Trailer Park Busted By FDNY

R.I.P. trailer park

First rule of secret hipster trailer park living? Don't invite the FDNY over. To go back in time, in December some alternative-living enthusiasts touted their trailer park paradise housed in a 6,500-square-foot former nut roasting factory in Bushwick. Several media outlets picked it up, and now NY Mag is reporting that earlier today the FDNY busted up the joint.

Allegedly they posted signs demanding residents vacate poste-haste. But what tipped them off? Not all that media coverage! They had originally been there a week earlier when gas was leaking from one of the trailers; at that point, the site's tipster claims one firefighter said: "Why is there a trailer park, with chickens?"

Back in December, however, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was totally cool with the set up, saying they'd only investigate the park if any complaints were made. Where will the artist commune and their chickens go now? We'll update once we find out!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on February 12, 2010 3:41 PM

Comments [rss]

potsmoker

Department of Housing and Urban Development does not seem to enforce codes...im not sure what cool with it means...it means something in Gothamist world!

is there a CWI ("cool with it") certificate on file somewhere?

on the HUD website i see nothing about living standards, code enforcement or hipster housing approval.

potsmoker

whats up with all this hipster BS.

hipsters keep trying to push the boundaries of whats legit, living on a boat, squating, lobster restaurant in an apt, live in non compliant living situations, deal and buy weed and coke, then blog, promote and give names and details in mainstream papers then wonder exactly why they got the attention of the authorities.

ozik

Did you even read the posting? The housing people were "cool with it", they essentially had permission.

potsmoker

housing people are not "cool" with it, its they way city agencies work based on complaints or directions from management.

i could come up with a million reasons why this is unsafe but im not worried about the safety of hipsters.

i couldnt find anything that said housing was cool with it.

ozik

The Gothamist post above, in the last paragraph, says that the Dept of Housing was "totally cool with the set up". I can only assume that the Gothamist folks know what they are talking about. The people with a problem were the fire department.

That said, this whole thing bothers me. It IS a bad, dangerous idea that appears to be poorly realized. AND I know other folks that tried to do something very similar, trying to get permission and had a smart consultant type person to help. They were told that they would be shut down.

I don't disagree with the idea that folks can live outside the main stream, and that if they do so in a way that's not legal then they shouldn't advertise it. But in this instance, it looks like they WERE okay with the housing people. It was a fire dept issue that was called in by one of the residents.

adeez

Hipster Hipster Hipster! I lover saying Hipster! Say it with me now - HIPSTER!!!!!!!!!!

thewildpansy

How about I say this... diehipster.com

ozik

This whole situation bothers me for numerous reasons. I applaud any sort of "alternate living", but I am personally acquainted with a similar effort years ago, and they couldn't get the city govt to be "just cool with it".

NannyState

Why all the FDNY hubub? If a hipster complains about leaking gas, simply light a match.

feed people to dogs

I was going to offer them one of my famous Russian cocktails

Sir Jimbob

~* HIPSTER POST ON HIPSTER BLOG WITH HIPSTER COMMENTS *~

eat vegans

I GUESS YOU ARE SPEAKING FOR YOUR HIPSTER SELF

Sir Jimbob

whooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

eat vegans

Better yet, these people should be made into dog food.

eat vegans

Don't we have a whole upstate region for RVs and chickens and communal hippie living??? Do these assholes think they are 'fighting the man' or something? Go back to where you came from, obviously not NYC

NannyState

But then they couldn't brag about their lifestyle. They'd just sit all depressed in their lawn chairs.

JacqueMehoff

this is why we can't have nice things.

I know if I were to become homeless I would love to live in a RV or trailer and mind my own business as others should.

and not an Airstream either.

junglisticman

Ct? Westchester? These arent the "Gutter Punks" on St. Marks from the early 90's. These are the Trustafarians/Jahfakins coming out of the Midwest which would go to their desire to act poor. Silly trust fund kids. It is sad that they lost their homes. It is just hard to have sympathy for people who like to act poor, not shower, drink crap beer, and are so "ironic" that they are conformists.

nycraf

Definitely an out of State (and non-NJ/CT) plate on that caravan in the picture.

grizzzly

Any word on what basis the FDNY asked them to vacate? I had assumed that this wasn't blatantly illegal based on the aforementioned Department of Housing and Urban Development being "totally cool" with it.

I hope some resolution is worked out - it's no one's place to dictate how others live provided basic safety is accounted for.

Snoopy

FDNY is probably investigating due to the illegal storage of motorized vehicles. It looks like a lot of them are campers or motor homes, not plain trailers.

All you need is one of them to have their engine runnning to warm up their "home" and you have carbon monoxide poisoning spreading throughout the space.

ed_Extinct

Losers

mangell

A hipster tipster? Maybe this will teach them a lesson in oversharing

elpollodiablo

Maybe they'll go back to their parents' homes in Westchester and CT... ?

thewildpansy

What the fuck is wrong with you? Obviously you know nothing about Westchester or Long Island. Hello that;s right next to the city. They ain't all that dumb. This is some Ohio/Kansas City hipster bullshit ya fuck.