On the morning of July 13th, at the invitation of Brunswick Hotel management, three persons familiar with construction and hotel maintenance toured the hotel to observe violations listed in a notice of July 10th from the City Bureau of Fire resulting from its inspection of July 8th.
Although there was no reason to believe that the life safety fire suppression and fire alarm systems are not functioning properly, there clearly were scores of minor violations. By themselves, they would have merited citing with a deadline for correction. Cumulatively, they leant credence to the City’s contention that lack of past progress justified closing the hotel.
The visitors were retired builder Robert Field, publisher of NewsLanc; his son Richard Field, a builder of mid-rise structures in Hungary; and Michael Adubato, a former construction supervisor and for the past decade the head engineer at Days Hotel – Newark Airport.
Part owner and manager of the Brunswick, Hamid Zahedi, guided the visitors and provided information. Cliff Lewis, reporter for NewsLanc, was also present.
The visitors were not in a position to speak to whether the City is correct in requiring certain alarm system upgrades, in that the only apparent work that has taken place over the past years is the normal renovations that are ongoing in similar properties. Nor could they judge the appropriateness of the timing of the demand that the hotel be closed or the suddenness of the action.
Certainly the seven page memorandum that took the City a full two days to deliver might have better been prepared and delivered at an earlier date. According to Zahedi, his former building engineer died last year and the Brunswick’s records may not be complete. He is requesting a copy of all correspondence between the City and the Brunswick from the Bureau of Fire.
The meeting between Zahedi and representatives of the Bureau has been postponed until Tuesday morning so that the Brunswick’s newly engaged consultant David Link would be able to join them at the hotel.
Zahedi commented to Robert Field that he sees where he needs someone with Adubato’s knowledge and experience working for him. Field observed that the problems seemed to be largely a matter of ignorance about the requirements of hotel maintenance.
It was the opinion of both of the builders and the properties engineer that violations could be remedied within a month, provided that funds and a competent contractor are available. If life safety codes upgrades are indeed required (they are already underway), the City might allow additional time after reopening for their completion because current systems are adequate and the same as widely exist throughout the country.
If Mayor Gray had not stepped in to comment on the closing of the Brunswick, and had he not commented on the issues that were found, the scenario would not have been as suspicious. It would have been between the Fire Department and the Hotel. Once he stuck his presence in, it became a city/political issue. He should have remained objective, and commented that the closing was between the fire department and Mr. Zahedi. Period.
Mayor Gray is the director of the City Department of Public Safety, which is comprised of the Bureaus of Fire and Police. It is entirely appropriate for him to issue comments on a major public safety issue.
I think somebody owes Dale High an apology.