Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Avella calls on Lancaster to resign

The commissioner said that the spate of recent high-profile accidents partly reflected a building boom in the city. "We're issuing approximately 78,000 permits per year and construction is all over the city, so the number of incidents, the percentage, is relatively small," she said. "I think citizens can feel safe with construction in their areas."

Crane Collapse Ups Pressure On Buildings Commissioner

Ms. Lancaster has already drawn the ire of city tabloids, with the Daily News penning a series of editorials in recent months criticizing Buildings Department officials as "incompetent" "boneheads" and writing that "the department, led by Commissioner Patricia Lancaster, lost control of safety standards" and is a "dysfunctional mess."

According to city statistics released last fall, 29 laborers died in work-related accidents from September 2006 to September 2007, a 61% increase over the previous year. The number of safety violations at high-rise construction sites also nearly doubled between November 2006 and November 2007. The city has been undergoing a historic construction boom.

"This is just the latest incident," Mr. Avella, who called for Ms. Lancaster's resignation previously after a fatal accident at the Trump SoHo construction site, said yesterday. "How many people have to die before the mayor realizes that the Department of Building, which is ultimately responsible for construction in this city, is in total chaos?"

A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, Stu Loeser, said Mr. Avella's resignation call was off base. "Such comments indicate a total lack of understanding of the situation, and we're not going to dignify such foolishness with a response," Mr. Loeser said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our aloof mayor is trying to equate C.M. Avella
with that famous "Chicken Little" fable.

Wake up Mayor Bumble-berg!

THE SKY IS FALLING ....
and it's KILLING PEOPLE.

Go and visit their remains at the morgue
you privileged parasite !

Just like "London Bridge"....
NEW YORK CITY'S FALLING DOWN......
FALLING DOWN.....FALLING DOWN !

And our "fair lady" Lancaster
ain't doin' SHIT about it !

Anonymous said...

Mayor Mike (and his PR machine)
might be trying to minimize what just happened
but one look at his face (and Pat Lancaster's)
make them both look like they each
ate a pound of crap for lunch!

They're damn scared
that NYC's lucrative tourist business
might slow up a bit if visitors get concerned
over the lack of construction safety.

Remember after 9-11 how tourism fell off ?

H-m-m-m....
you just keep on lying to the public Mr. Mayor.
We have no faith in your empty words any more!

Anonymous said...

Tony Avella was right to say she needs to resign. DOB is totally out of control.

Anonymous said...

Tony Avella:

Push for the incompetent Bloomberg to dump this incompetent moron for her dismissive and depraved indifference to human life.

DOB was warned specifically about the dangers of this particular crane. She and the inspectors had too much money at stake from the developer, so they brushed off the complaint and insulted the fellow who waned of the danger.

Now the Commissar's lickspittle comes out to dismiss your concerns and calls for Lancaster's dismissal.

You may not have billions of dollars Tony, but, you have trillions in heart, intelligence, and plain common sense for the proper way to handle DOB.

Illegitimi Non Carborundum!

Anonymous said...

That last Latin comment loosely translated meant:

"Blessed are those bastards
(lovingly meant) that keep on grinding".

Am I correct?

Anonymous said...

Tony is absolutely right. He has my vote.

Anonymous said...

Sounds good to me, although I'd prefer lynching.