Developer with shady past still building

Some participants at a Community Board 8 meeting last week discussed Robert Chou's criminal record — he has been convicted of bribery and perjury — and said they feared a repeat of what they said were dangerous conditions during the construction of the East 79th Street development three years ago.

Upper East Side Developer Draws Ire

The city cited the project for more than 20 environmental violations, including operating a crane in an unsafe manner and failure to safeguard the public from falling debris — and issued fines in excess of $10,000. During construction, two pedestrians sustained minor injuries after a piece of plywood fell from a sidewalk bridge erected at the site. In a letter to the deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development after the incident, state Senator Liz Krueger and the then speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, said the site had "emerged as a public safety threat owned by a company that has routinely engaged in duplicity."

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