She Came for A Ceiling Leak, but What She Discovered Eventually Exposed the Fact that Upper East Side Slumlord Slavik Gofman had Installed Illegal Gas Pipe Fittings at 179 East 93rd Street, Endangering the Health & Safety of Tenants and the Public at Large

She may have saved our lives. On January 28, 2021, NYC Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD) Inspector Feliciano smelled gas in our building, 179 East 93rd Street NYC 10128, while she was here inspecting yet another leak that had gushed through our entry hallway ceiling. 

As documented in NY City records, leaks occur chronically in our building; it might be a raw sewage leak, other times a domestic water leak. The substance can vary. But what is consistent is the fact that the leaks at 179 East 93rd Street are chronic.

And this time, it was a twofer; A pipe had burst, gushing water so fiercely between the floors that it busted right through our entry hallway ceiling as the smell of gas swelled up around us.

The stench of gas was strong and unmistakable. So Inspector Feliciano wasted no time in trying to track down the individuals listed as the responsible parties in an emergency in our building. 

After calling, with no response, the phone number for the Building Super that's listed on the wall in our hallway, Inspector Feliciano then asked the person, who is listed as having the key to our boiler room, for the key. 

But here, too, it was a no-show. For that person - a man who had done real estate leasing deals for Landlord Slavik Gofman - told the Inspector he didn't know why his name was listed in the hallway as he does not have the key to our boiler room.

So as neither person listed as being responsible for emergencies in our building, responded to the Inspector's report that she smelled gas, NYC HPD Inspector Feliciano was having none of it and called in the gas leak herself. Both FDNY and Con Edison responded.

Con Edison timely discovered that the gas leak emanated from Apt. 2A, due to an illegal or defective gas hook-up (and in which apartment Landlord Slavik Gofman had done some work without a NYC DOB permit, and in which apartment it appears Landlord Slavik Gofman had earlier replaced and possibly moved a previously existing gas stove, etc. without a NYC DOB permit). 

So on January 28, 2021, Con Edison had to shut off the gas to Apt. 2A and Apt. 3A, both of which are served by the same defective gas pipe. And the gas leak was reported to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). 

According to City Records, on January 29, 2021, NYC DOB Inspector Badge #3078 inspected for the illegal or defective gas hook in Apt. 2A that was the source of the 1/28/21 gas leak, but did not issue a Violation and marked the gas leak matter "resolved." 

The NYC DOB Inspector's notes read as follows: 

Last Inspection:	01/29/2021 - - BY BADGE # 3078
Disposition:	02/01/2021 - I2 - NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION
Comments:	ACCESS TO BUILDING AND CELLAR, UTILITY SHUT OFF AND LOCKED 2 METERS PRIOR TO INSPECTION, NO NEW WORK OBSERVED.

At the time that Con Edison shut off the gas, on January 28, 2021, Apt. 2A was vacant. But Apt. 3A was occupied. And so, after months of Landlord Slavik Gofman telling the tenants in Apt. 3A that the gas would be turned back on, on such and such a date, and that date would pass with no gas, the tenants in Apt. 3A (who had already endured years of raw sewage leaks, etc. in our entry hallway and all the other myriad building-wide and apartment defects to which we have all been subjected) finally moved out of 179 East 93rd Street on April 1, 2021.

So, at that point, the 2 apartments without gas - Apt. 2A & Apt. 3A - were unoccupied. 

Subsequently, one of the tenants in Apt. 2B moved across the hall to Apt. 2A where he was (and still is) without gas.

In the months that followed, NYC HPD returned to the building. Same issues, different HPD Inspector for each visit. So many violations. So little time.

Then, on May 5, 2021, while the NYC HPD Inspector was here to inspect for other unrelated building and apartment defects (e.g. scalding 170 degree Fahrenheit water, etc.), the still persistent smell of gas led that HPD Inspector to insist that we call Con Edison and report the gas we smelled. 

The May 5, 2021 HPD Inspector was so worried about our safety - given the pervasive and obvious smell of gas on the 1st floor - the Inspector said he would not leave until we called in the gas smell. In fact, the HPD Inspector dialed Con Edison's Phone Number on his own cell, put it on speaker and gestured for us to report the gas smell. So the four female tenants, who were with the HPD Inspector in our entry hallway that day, did just that. We all chimed in about the fact the hallway smelled like a gas station.

Con Edison and FDNY responded. And Con Edison took the report of a gas leak seriously and seriously listened and seriously inspected.

But, unfortunately, FDNY did neither. Instead, FDNY blew the whole thing off; Of course, we told the firemen (and yes, they were all men) that we smelled gas. 

One of the FDNY members pointed to a 1st floor apartment door and incorrectly told the "leader" of the FDNY pack, "This is where they found a gas leak last time we were here."

As the January 28, 2021 Gas Leak to which he was referring was not found on the 1st floor, but was, in fact, found on the 2nd floor, one of the female tenants spoke up, quickly trying to correct this material misinformation.

But no sooner did she get the words, "That's actually incorrect. The gas leak was found in Apar/" out of her mouth, and the FDNY men - who were crowded together in our narrow hallway, completely unmasked, on May 5, 2021 - jumped all over her. 

It was obvious to us that the word "incorrect" was a trigger for these FDNY men. Once they heard that word, they didn't hear another thing this woman was saying. 

She could have been telling them that an elderly woman was choking to death on the X floor and it wouldn't have registered with these guys. For these FDNY men who charge into burning buildings were psychologically paralyzed by one little nine letter word: "incorrect"; that ancient member of the lexicon was just too much for the obviously fragile male egos of these FDNY men.

So rather than listening to the people who actually reported the gas leak, and rather than going to the 2nd floor apartment where the January 28, 2021 gas leak was actually found (a fact that these FDNY men never let us say because they talked over us every time we tried), these FDNY men chose instead to dig their heels in on the 1st Floor where they spent the entire May 5, 2021 FDNY visit combatively arguing with and making wrong the four female NYC tenants who they were supposed to be there to serve. 

No. These FDNY guys weren't having any of it. They were gonna show these uppity women, who had the audacity to try to correct the FDNY's misinformation, that FDNY knows better. 

They refused to listen to what we were trying to tell them. The correct apartment on the 2nd floor could have been on the verge of disaster for all they knew. But that wasn't what was important to these FDNY boys. 

It was all about their egos; Their egos and the macho order of fraternity that allows them to get stuck in the mud of one dreaded word: "incorrect".

In fact, the "leader" of the FDNY gang staked out in our 1st floor hallway on May 5, 2021 - the "leader" who should have been setting an example - talked over us all, mansplaining to the 4 female tenants (most of whom are old enough to be his mother) who reported the gas smell. Come to think of it, he was setting an example. A really dangerous example.

Ironically, the FDNY "leader" actually gaslighted us about the gas smell we had reported. Yup. You got it; He told the four female NYC tenants standing in the entry hallway on May 5, 2021 that there was no gas smell. 

He then started mansplaining again, telling the four female NYC tenants that we didn't know what we were smelling because we live here. (say what?) 

Never mind the fact that we reported the gas smell at the insistence of the male NYC HPD Inspector who stayed with us throughout this May 5, 2021 FDNY saga. 

The FDNY "leader" also defended the fact that he and his gang refused to wear masks when we asked them to do so. He said that they have to have their noses uncovered so that they can smell gas. The gas that these FDNY men claimed THEY COULD NOT SMELL on the 1st floor of 179 East 93rd Street on May 5, 2021. The gas that we could smell through our masks. 

So go figure.

Then, on May 24, 2021, Con Edison came to turn the gas back on for Apt. 2A and Apt. 3A, after Landlord Slavik Gofman had presumably corrected the gas leak and the dangerous illegal gas hook-up in Apt. 2A, which faulty gas hook-up caused the 1/28/21 gas leak and caused Con Edison to have to shut-off the gas to Apt. 2A and Apt. 3A.

But during the May 24, 2021 inspection, Con Edison discovered that rather than correcting the dangerous condition, Landlord Slavik Gofman had made it worse by installing "illegal gas pipe fittings" (The Con Edison worker's words). 

So because "the illegal gas pipe fittings" - installed by Landlord Slavik Gofman and pictured above - posed a danger to the health & safety of the tenants who live at 179 East 93rd Street NYC 10128, rather than turning the gas back on for Apt. 2A & Apt. 3A, on May 24, 2021, Con Edison had to shut off the gas for the entire building.

After discovering the illegal gas pipe fittings, one of the Con Edison Worker's present during the May 24, 2021 inspection told Landlord Slavik Gofman's worker that “This is a big, BIG violation!”. 

And without missing a beat - as though it is just a part of his regular work routine - Landlord Slavik Gofman's worker quickly replied, “Isn’t there something we can do to FIX this?”. 

So everything that followed on May 24, 2021, and to date, must be viewed through the prism of that original plea.

Then, Landlord Slavik Gofman's worker got Gofman on the speaker phone with the Con Edison workers and all the other men (and they were ALL men) attendant to the May 24, 2021 gas pipe fittings inspection.  

When the Con Edison inspector told Landlord Slavik Gofman directly that the gas pipe fittings were illegal, Gofman immediately threw the plumber directly under the bus , claiming the illegal gas pipe fittings were all the plumber's fault and that poor innocent Slavik Gofman had NO idea the plumber had installed illegal pipe fittings. 

Despite the fact that Landlord Slavik Gofman’s defense was more transparent than a pair of nylons, it seemed that he conned the Con Edison inspector who was literally apologetic and kept saying, “I’m really sorry about this, Slavik”. 

Demonstrating his characteristic reckless disregard for tenants safety, Landlord Slavik Gofman kept complaining to the Con Edison Inspector, "Why do you have to turn off the whole building?! Can't you just turn off the gas for Apartment 2A and Apartment 3A?"

When the Con Edison Inspector explained to Gofman that we would all be at risk of a gas explosion were Con Edison to leave the gas on in light of the installation of the "illegal gas pipe fittings," Landlord Slavik Gofman stubbornly pressed the Con Edison Inspector even further: 

“How long will you be there?", Gofman impatiently asked. "Can you wait for me? I will be right there!”, Gofman insisted.

So while Landlord Slavik Gofman did not deign to rush to our building when we were rained upon by a raw sewage leak gushing through a LIVE electrical light fixture, nor did Gofman make an appearance when we had no heat, nor did Gofman materialize when we had no water, nor did Gofman rush to our aid on any other occasion. But, for some reason, on May 24, 2021, Landlord Slavik Gofman was desperate to speak to the Con Edison Inspector and his entourage in person.

Perhaps Gofman saw it as an opportunity to use his well-honed skills of persuasion. Or perhaps there was something Gofman didn't want to say over the phone or put in writing. 

Either way, apparently when Landlord Slavik Gofman thinks that he has something really significant at stake, he enlists his trusty jetpack to get across town because, lo and behold, on May 24, 2021, our notoriously derelict landlord, who has not responded to myriad emergencies that have played out in our building like a long-running bad-landlord soap opera in its jump-the-shark fifteenth season, appeared at our building in what seemed like a New York minute. 

What followed Gofman's arrival was a lot of guy-talk and figurative back-slapping; a very chummy male-only collegial gathering indeed. 

And it looks like Landlord Slavik Gofman knows just how to play it because, as you can see from the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) comments included in the attendant Gas Pipe Violation, what the Con Edison Inspector, and his entourage, had originally, and unequivocally, called "illegal gas pipe fittings," was generously translated, for the narrative description on the NYC DOB Gas Pipe Violation, into the much more landlord-friendly wording, which states that the: “plumber shut off meter control valve without” telling Con Edison, making the whole "illegal gas pipe fittings" thing - which, as you may recall posed a danger significant enough for Con Edison to shut off the gas for our entire building - sound like a mere failure in communication.

But the kid-glove description gives Gofman exactly what he wanted; it plays down the seriousness of the Gas Pipe Violation and lets Gofman off the hook and instead points the finger directly at the plumber. 

And, given the fact that there were far too many witnesses for Gofman to have been able to make the Violation disappear all together, favorable wording of a NYC DOB violation was about the best Gofman could possibly hope for and precisely what it appears Gofman may have successfully finessed.   

The TA does not know whether money, promises or favors actually changed hands on or about May 24, 2021. But we do know that the NYC DOB Violation, that has now been memorialized as part of the NYC public record, makes it sound like Landlord Slavik Gofman was a passive victim of a sloppy plumber, rather than the kingpin in an ongoing operation that routinely flouts New York law as matter of course, is willing to corrupt the system, compromise the public record and, in the process, put the health & safety of tenants at risk for profit.

Later, as the gas was shut off to the entire building, Landlord Slavik Gofman provided tenants with electric Hot Plates that brandish the following Label: 

WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm 

Then after weeks of tenants struggling to prepare meals without working stoves, on June 15, 2021 Landlord Slavik Gofman sent a message to tenants claiming that Con Edison had done its final inspection of the purportedly corrected gas pipe fittings and that "everything looks good now".

As you can see from the screenshot of the June 15, 2021 message, the landlord goes on to claim that the only remaining impediment to having the gas turned back on at 179 East 93rd Street is that Con Edison has to "pick a day to get access to every unit and put the gas back on".

But as Landlord Slavik Gofman has on numerous occasions demonstrated a reckless disregard for the health & safety of his tenants and Landlord Slavik Gofman has on numerous occasions filed with the city (HPD), state (DHCR) and NY Courts fraudulent certifications of work being done when it was not done and as The City of NY is suing Landlord Slavik Gofman and his known "Associates" for "deceitful" and "fraudulent" business practices (please see, NY County Supreme Court Case Index Number 451327/2019), the TA asked Con Edison to confirm as to whether Con Edison had, in fact, conducted a final inspection sometime prior to the June 15, 2021 message and approved the purportedly corrected gas pipe fittings.

As of this writing, Con Edison has declined to confirm as to whether they had done an inspection prior to the June 15th message from Landlord Gofman and Con Edison has also declined to confirm as to whether they have approved the purportedly corrected gas pipe fittings.

Ironically, HPD Inspector Feliciano’s discovery of a Gas Leak on January 28, 2021, not only may have saved our lives, but it provided Landlord Slavik Gofman with yet one more opportunity to do the right thing. Lord knows, he has had countless such opportunities and, to date, Gofman has failed to rise to the occasion.

You see, when it comes to Landlord Slavik Gofman - a slick and savvy business man with a NYC real estate portfolio stocked with both commercial and residential buildings - he earned his spot, on the NYC Public Advocate’s List of the Worst NYC Landlords, the old-fashioned way; For Gofman has never met a Building Code or Rent Regulation he didn’t flout, a bureaucracy he didn’t try to corrupt or a corner he didn’t cut. It’s simply not in his DNA to follow the rules; the rules that exist to keep us all safe.

So while Inspector Feliciano’s January 28, 2021 discovery of a Gas Leak, at 179 East 93rd Street NYC 10128, handed Landlord Slavik Gofman the perfect opportunity to show his tenants and the city that he can responsibly manage our building, instead, he doubled-down on his long-standing commitment to cut corners even when that means putting lives in danger and demonstrated, once again, his reckless disregard for the health & safety of the tenants and the public at large.