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Rent Regs Helped Me Find The Chelsea Bomb, Vigilant New Yorker Says

By Noah Hurowitz | September 30, 2016 3:34pm | Updated on October 3, 2016 8:39am
 Jane Schreibman, center, accepts thanks from State Senator Brad Hoylman, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried on Friday.
Jane Schreibman, center, accepts thanks from State Senator Brad Hoylman, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried on Friday.
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DNAinfo/Noah Hurowitz

CHELSEA — A Chelsea artist who alerted police to an unexploded bomb left by terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami said Friday that she's not the hero — but the rent stabilization that kept her living in NYC is.

Jane Schreibman called 911 on Sept. 17 after noticing a pressure cooker on the sidewalk of West 27th Street with wires coming out of it, soon after another device blew up on West 23rd Street

And the woman of the hour said it was her ability to afford rent that let her be there at the right time to discover the bomb.

“Thank you everyone, but really, thank you to rent stabilization for allowing me to stay in New York,” she said.

Schreibman on Friday accepted a proclamation of gratitude from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and received a slew of thanks from a host of city elected officials, all of whom praised her as a model citizen of "See Something, Say something"-era New York.

“She saved lives, and for that, all of us are grateful,” said Public Advocate Letitia James, in the ceremony held at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “For me and for Gale, she is a true shero.”

Schreibman found the bomb nearly two hours after another bomb exploded on West 23rd Street several blocks away, injuring 31 people. She had gone outside to check out the scene and noticed the pressure cooker sitting on the sidewalk, wires protruding and attached to a cell phone taped to the pot.

She initially kept walking, but after mulling it over she decided she couldn’t live with herself if she didn't call, even if she might be a bother.

“I even apologized to the dispatcher in case I was wasting their time,” she said. “But I learned how important it is not to second guess yourself.”

After her call, officers managed to remove the bomb to a firing range in The Bronx, according to police, where NYPD Bomb Squad Detectives Jason Hallik and Anthony Mason took it apart and rendered it inert.

Like the device that exploded on West 23rd Street, police have connected the pressure cooker on West 27th Street to Ahmad Khan Rahami, a New Jersey resident who was arrested less than two days after the attack.