The Buildings Department says it is finally cracking down on the unscrupulous engineers, architects and contractors who have ignored the law and damaged neighborhoods during New York's building boom.Buildings Dept. vows crackdown on unscrupulous builders
With a $6 million funding boost and 48 new employees, the department has used lawyers, investigators and inspectors to scrutinize operators and build cases against the worst offenders - hoping to put 50 of them out of business.
"What we're trying to do is identify the worst actors, and now we're focusing scrutiny on them," Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the Daily News. "We're changing from a reactive model to a proactive one, because this has to stop."
She said the department also is cracking down on architects and engineers who build illegal eyesores by abusing their right to certify their own plans.
When the Buildings Department audited 155 of those plans, it found problems with 80% of them.
13 comments:
Well.....
I suggest that Ms. Lancaster put
Tommy Huang
and Robert Scarano on the
most offensive list immediately
for starters !
Amen! With many officials term limited and running for new offices that will have real contests, maybe someone other than Avella will see the benefit of listening to public opinion. The Queens Crap already built these past years, with attendant flooding is a very ugly legacy for Bloomberg to point to. This is a small start, why not end self certification all together? 80% of all plans submitted contain lies?? So why only go after the very worst? Put an end to the whole rotten system. Do they allow self certification in Nassau county? Westchester? Somehow I doubt it.
What a bunch of baloney. The DOB under Lancaster is asleep at the wheel. She doesn't have a clue.
The headline 'DOB getting tough' we have all seen again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again .....
Mayor Giuliani once suggested
putting the DOB under the FDNY.
Maybe he had one good idea.
Fire fighters are the ones
who have to run into burning
illegally constructed buildings.
They've got plenty to lose.....
so they might not be so eager to take bribes
to overlook safety hazards.....
as some DOB inspectors might !
Just a thought.
Any opinions?
Yes. I'm sure the DOB is actually getting tough. And winged monkeys might fly out my butt, too.
probably just a lot of bunch of hot air, as everybody says, but at least the DOB is on the defensive -- maybe in part because of Queens Crap!
Ken has no genitalia.
neither does barbie, sniffle, sniffle.
Well now they'll have a quota to fill, they will round up as many mom & pop type architects and engineers, sole propreiters, the little fish, and let guys like Scarano and Huang get away with building their monster buildings cause they've got money and political pull. The DOB now has been revoking jobs and permits when a check mark is missing from an application designating whether a GC has an HIC license or not, as per the new Padavan law do that twice within a 6 month period and you loose your license. Instead the DOB should be training its examiners better. Well the more RA's and PE's they snag the more money they can request at the next budget meeting. This is truly going to kill the construction industry in the city. Like you say the smart ones moved out long ago!
A "butch" DOB.....don't make me laugh......
I have gas as it is..... and I might break wind
at any moment!
Do you think that Commissioner Lancaster and the investigative units will now have to prosecute Tommy Huang to gain some credibility? They presumably have the goods on him. Who will be going with him? Hopefully, a few of his family members.
The investigators cannot rap there heads around all the zoning and code infractions that Huang and Scarano do...but they do understand it when a check mark is not put in the correct box on an application form...and thats who they will nail..not tommy and not bobbie. Keep dreaming.
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