New York, New York - Winston Bowen quietly watched as New York firefighters looked for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building in Brooklyn, after a deadly tragedy that he blamed on "careless" developers leading rapid gentrification.

The 54-year-old's assessment was echoed by others who gathered Thursday opposite the grim scene in Flatbush, a mostly Black neighborhood, where a three-story building plunged into a neighboring excavation site.

Investigations have only just begun, but Bowen said he believed the property owners may have cut corners in their plans to construct a nine-story building for apartments and a grocery store.

"It's just all about making money. They didn't care about the danger," Bowen, a local businessman, told AFP as he looked onto the heap of bricks and wooden beams.

And even when buildings are completed, he added, "the rent is sky high, and you know the poorer class can't afford it."

Gentrification is a touchy topic in New York, which has a ravenous desire for housing while balancing the needs of both extraordinarily wealthy and working people.

Kevin, a 55-year-old electrician, said he felt that Black people were being unfairly pushed out by new housing projects with unaffordable rents.

"Developers want Black people out of this neighborhood, and we're not going like that. And now they're killing us," said Kevin, who declined to share his last name for privacy reasons.

Developers "care about their bottom line and that's it," he added.

While most people near the scene were solemn, with hands in pockets or filming on their phones, Rachel Cyprian shouted about what she called "overbuilding" in the neighborhood.

"This is God coming to say enough is enough," she said of the collapsed building. "The newer properties are being built so fast. We know that they cannot be structurally sound."

Cyprian also pointed to the racial element of gentrification.

"It is ethnically cleansing Black people out of Brooklyn, New York. We built this country with blood, sweat, and tears, and now we're being kicked out," she said.

Retired police officer Jo (60) nodded along as Cyprian addressed a crowd that gathered around her opposite the rubble.

"If this was in Manhattan, with mostly white people and people with more money, would they be doing these things?" she said, referencing what she considered construction safety failures.

Her friend Cindy (59), who also withheld her surname, agreed: "This new gentrification spoils everything."

She added that she was not convinced anyone would be held accountable for the incident.

"Somebody is going to put flowers outside there because it's a very tragic situation. There's gonna be a little memorial there, but that's gonna be the end of it," Cindy said.

According to documents reviewed by AFP, city officials this spring ordered the property owner to halt demolition work over inadequate protection for nearby properties. That stop-order was lifted in August.

The owners of the building and of the construction site have not publicly commented on the collapse.

Stephanie Guerilus (42) said she felt the incident was "inevitable" due to rapid housing development projects seen in her neighborhood.

"A lot of high-rises are being built at a very quick pace without the necessary safety to ensure that people, the residents, are safe," the journalist told AFP.

Construction worker Mark Vixama (47) said he hoped there would be repercussions for whoever is responsible – adding that the community would be scarred for years to come.

"All of this could have definitely been prevented," he said. "We have to answer for all of that."

"It's gonna be a tragedy. Anytime you pass by, you're always gonna remember that building and what happened in that building," he said.