From the Daily News:The city failed to address thousands of illegal home conversion complaints in Queens last year because inspectors didn't try hard enough to gain access to the properties, a new audit shows.
City Controller William Thompson blasted the Buildings Department's Queens quality-of-life unit for missing two-thirds of the properties that had complaints filed against them.
"This is absolutely outrageous," Thompson said Tuesday. "Illegal conversions not only reduce the quality of life in a neighborhood ... but pose serious safety risks by creating potentially unsafe living conditions."
The unit tried to inspect all 8,345 properties that drew complaints, but did not gain entry to 67% of them, the audit showed. The inspectors requested access warrants to less than 1% of the buildings they failed to enter.
"Considering the potential risk to the public, the Buildings Department must make a greater effort to obtain access warrants," Thompson said.
14 comments:
Bravo - Someone suddenly awakened! Now go and get the warrants to inspect all the illegally converted single family housing that threatens all those who live in them, their neighbors subject to fires,vermin and crime.
Come on Thompson, tell us about the finances and how they are about to fall off a cliff in NYC.
Wait till next year folks. Whoompa!
Remember to thank the editors of all those Queens newspapers that endorsed Blumturd.
Stealing Tony's agenda.
This guy doesnt bother me as much as that nitwit Rev Billy running on the green ticket and stealing support from Tony.
Come on guys. Politics is serious, not the place for a camera seeking actor.
Politicians. It is only because he is running for mayor. He really doesn't care. Queens is just a big mess!
Do you think all the people going up in flames or being buried in rubble may have stirred a little outrage? I hope so, I was beginning to wonder if the city was adding tranquilizers to the water supply.
The audit is seriously flawed and amateurish. Mr. thompson fails to mention that the unit deals with homeowners/taxpayers/citizens. He would have you pay $250 (according to his report that's the way Newark does it) whenever your disgruntled neighbor calls 311 and files a complaint against you. By-passing the constitution altogether. In addition to obtain a warrant to bust into your basement at 11 pm. He also fails to mention how much money are added to city coffers as a result of 2,000 + violations (year after, year). He should know, as per his previous audit of Dept. of Finance failure to collect ECB fines. Wich as we all know now thanks to his report if you wait 8 years the violations are squashed. Inspectors are not NYPD, city Marshals or pawns of boblehead H.Marshal
He also does not mention the good. Most recently 95-48 114th Street in Richmond Hill.
Many others, all over Queens.
lmao, wow why don't he head over to mazeau street and look at the house that was built over a garage over a weekend, that should really get his balls twisted...... no one in the buildings dept. had gone after the orginal owner who then sold the shit. the buildings dept. sucks!!!!! and we, the legal ones who file the proper papers get harrassed....
look at the house that was built over a garage over a weekend, that should really get his balls twisted...... no one in the buildings dept. had gone after the orginal owner who then sold the shit. the buildings dept. sucks!!!!! and we, the legal ones who file the proper papers get harrassed....
You do everything by the book (Law) and you get shafted big time while everyone else is opening sro in single family homes making a fortune while the city turns it's cheek. So screw it it - I will do the same when I need the cash when I am out of work. Maybe open the place to lots of "immigrant girls" for side benefits.
Just one house on Mazeau Street -- come over to 52nd Drive bet. 73rd & 74th Street. The whole block is full of illegal apts.
I was a cop in richmond hill 15 years ago.I must have gone on 3-5 landlord/ tenant radio runs every tour. I had a list od tenant rights and a list of landlord rights. I always made it a point of telling the occupants(most were good people) of illegally rented apartments that they were not required by law to pay rent and could not be evicted without an eviction notice. this was a common call:young woman comes out of shower,drunken guyanese landlord tells me he owns house and can enter apt. anytime he wants.I arrested a few for burglary and put them throuh the system.I twas dropped to criminal tress,but the message got out!
Thank you officer. We need more like you. Common decency goes a long way whether your are a landlord or a tenant. In my day, just a threat to call the cops was enough. Now the hoodlums brazen it out to your face while you are standing right there.
According to Thompson:
Evict & vacate the pregnant woman while husband is at work, and then come back within 30 days and do it again.
No problem, instead of 657 vacates why not 13,000 +.
While that's being done, why not a warrant to bust into Grandma's house. He talks about the cost ?
What about the $ collected. Fines are in the thousands. Why doesn't he audit where all the money goes, after all he is a "Comptroler" follow the money. By the way some of us remember when Thompson was president of the "old" Dept. of Education.
DO NOT VOTE THOMPSON FOR MAYOR
Has anyone walked through Richmond Hill lately? Its a disaster, there's a shanty town across three backyards across the street from my mother's house, rented rooms for all sorts of people, not to mention they live 50 to a room, somehow they all have cars!! No place to park, I grew up in Richmond Hill it used to be a normal place, lots of beautiful homes, now they raze the Victorians and build 6 family homes!! Who is allowing this? Someone is getting a nice paycheck!!!
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