The owner of the East Harlem garden center cited for violating city codes in the wake of a massive fire that damaged Metro-North tracks overhead earlier this month said Thursday that the store didn’t “want to endanger anybody.”
Dimitri Gatanas told NBC 4 New York that the Urban Garden Center said that the city never complained to him about keeping flammable materials under the Metro-North tracks in his five years owning the store.
Gatanas was cited for not obtaining permits to store flammable materials days after a fire – sparked by fuel spilled on a hot generator – ignited an inferno that damaged a column underneath the viaduct holding the tracks. The damage spurred days of delays along all Metro-North lines, one of the nation’s busiest rail networks.
"I wouldn't want to endanger anybody," Gatanas said. "We are embarrassed by the situation but we can't sit here and mope around and be upset. We have our head up and we are doing what we have to do."
Gatanas said that his business never tried to skirt around the rules and didn’t try to avoid getting a permit to store the materials. He said everything his business did was done "with good intentions" and called the fire an accident.
"We were involved in an accident," he said. "We feel that we are bearing the brunt of maybe some oversight."
Gatanas said his lease with the city’s Economic Development Center now requires monthly inspections.
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Mayor de Blasio said Thursday that Gatanas should "own up" to violating city codes about storing flammable materials.
"I would say to the owner, 'Own up to the fact you did something wrong, get right and we can move forward,'" he said.
Others, meanwhile defended Gatanas and his garden center. Carey King, a project director of the New Harlem East Merchants Association, said the center turned the blighted area into a nice place to shop.
“It's an incredibly difficult place to beautify and make into a community space," King said.
Meanwhile, crews continued to make repairs to the damaged column on Thursday. Trains are running normally again.
Earlier this week, an MTA board member called for an investigation into whether the city inspects properties underneath the viaduct.
