Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Press FINALLY catching on to Tommy Huang

KEEP IT COMING!!!


From the Daily News:

The death of an immigrant worker at a Queens construction site last week capped decades of shoddy - and shady - development by one of the city's most notorious builders.

By the time the 20-foot-high concrete wall collapsed on Hedilberto Sanchez on Jan. 10, developer Thomas Huang and companies he owns or uses had racked up 20 hazardous building-code violations and $42,000 in unpaid fines at the Queens Blvd. site in Elmhurst.

The latest debacle is just one of dozens of projects that earned Huang, 57, and his family a reputation for building quick and cheap, ignoring building codes and flouting zoning regulations.

Over the years, he's been excoriated by elected officials and local activists, and he and his companies have been sued repeatedly for damaging neighboring properties.

"Tommy Huang should be behind bars, and his family and his companies should all be prohibited from doing construction in New York forever," said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who has battled the developer for a decade.

Still, Huang continues to build.

Spokesman Tony Sclafani said the department has no authority to deny or revoke permits based on previous safety violations or unpaid fines.

Still, he said the agency is considering referring the Queens Blvd. case to the Queens district attorney. Huang's lawyer, Gerard Misk, declined to comment.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haven't we not had our fill of the Huangs yet? You can't help but ask: Why in God's name are they still in business?

What is not clear here? When you employ illegal immigrants, don't you break the law? And, if you do employ illegal immigrants, don't you still have to provide for their safety? Whether you are a subcontractor or the general contractor of the project, you have accountability? Was the Superintendent of Construction for H Rock Corp. qualified to hold that position? You need a "competent person" to handle those responsibilities. Did they have to have a site safety supervisor on site?

You have to ask: What were they thinking? Who in their right mind would pile cinderblocks 20 ft. high and pumps them full of concrete?

Why should the inhabitants of Queens, whether they be workers on the project, illegal or legal, adjacent homeowners and neighbors of these horrendous, horribly dangerous sites have to suffer at the hands of the HUANGS? They have seriously impacted the quality of life of the citizens of Queens.

The City needs to cut to the chase and take the bull by the horns and do what needs to be done to say face. They have not caved into public pressures yet. It's long, long overdue.

Should the DOB, in part, be held accountable for the young man's life? What do you think? Perhaps, its the only way we can get them to do their job. Why should they be above the law? The DOB Commissioners need to be held accountable. If they fail to protect us, they should be held accountable.

It has been said in the past that the DOB is costing us millions. Yet, the City continues to fail to crackdown on DOB fine scofflaws. The Huangs are big offenders. We need to question why is it that the Huangs get away without paying the fines. They don't they have to show up at hearings. You can't help but note for all those hazardous violations, we are talking hazadous, as hazardous to your life, the notation over and over again "certificate accepted" penalty waived.

"The fines are not acting as an incentive to correct violations because the City is not holding individuals and businesses liable," Thompson said. "The City needs to institute new measures and stop issuing new permits to entities with unpaid fines and open violations. As a result of inadequate enforcement tools, the City is losing revenue and ignoring serious public safety issues."

Inadequate enforcement!

Perhaps this young fellow would still be alive, if they only did what they were supposed to.

Don't go after these scofflaws, instead raise our taxes.
fines, he raises our taxes.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

WHY HAVE WE NOT HEARD FROM THE LATINO GROUPS ON THIS COLLAPSE?

"The Mayor and news media have reported the occurrence of numerous construction accidents throughout the City during the past year, some of which were fatal to workers and members of the public," Thompson added. "The site of the March 15 crane collapse that killed seven people on the East Side alone had 21 open Environmental Control Board violations as of May 2008, 12 of which had unpaid defaulted penalties totaling $39,380."

Who's being hurt at the worksite?

Latinos account for a disproportionate share of occupational fatalities.

The silence is deafening. Where is Geraldo Rivera?

faster340 said...

Yeah and as usual nothing will be done because he's probably lining the pockets of the people that can actually do something about this guy!!!

Anonymous said...

Hear Hear! How is it DOB's Scalfani can say he can't go after contractors, when DOB has the authority to prohibit practice by Architects and Engineers in NYC? -no dead bodies involved there, btw. And how is it DOB can release self-aggrandizing news about a decline in construction fatalities at the same time the latest Huang catastrophe occured? Could it be another example of LiMandri cooking the numbers? -it's not a construction fatality if the worker died off-site, maybe? or the numbers are not adjusted to reflect the decrease in overall construction activity? or? Remember, LiMandri was in charge of operations when the cranes fell. Remember, the man's an MBA, not a licensed architect or engineer: an MBA certainly knows how to cook the books and dodge culpability - look at Wall Street!

Unknown said...

"Spokesman Tony Sclafani said the department has no authority to deny or revoke permits based on previous safety violations or unpaid fines."

Well there is the problem. If a company has a violation in 1 place they shouldn't be allowed to work on any of their sites until its fixed and paid. Why does it seem that in this day and age the system isn't computerized. The second a company applies for a permit the system should reject it based on prior offenses.

Anonymous said...

Dirty Chinese scam artist. Guy should have bamboo splinters shoved under his yellow fingernails.

georgetheatheist said...

An enraged public metes out justice to the Huang gang. Scene: Downtown Flushing, corner of Roosevelt & Main

Anonymous said...

uh, George you may wanna label that one as NSFW, or not for the squeamish. We've got old white people on this site, be kind to them.

Anonymous said...

What is the Daily News talking about with the word "immigrant"

The worker killed was an illegal alien working with his 3 illegal brothers.
Huang belongs in jail and should be investigated for human trafficking. Its a good possibility Huang s paying the Coyote smugglers to bring him $50/day workers.

Anonymous said...

We need to question why is it that the Huangs get away without paying the fines.
----------------------------

I heard that there are people in the DOB can fix the violations without going to the court. Which means they can either dismiss the tickets or they can move the tickets from one property to another property.

Anonymous said...

The widow is just a no-count poor Latina mother of no consequence in Huang's eyes.

If she really wants justice for her dead husband....maybe the "MS 13" or "Latin Kings" gangs will take a contract on Huang....instead of her initiating an expensive lawsuit that goes nowhere.

Anonymous said...

george:

Great pic, though does require disclaimer. Truly awful. However, beheading too easy for Tommy.

Google "Ling Chi," AKA "death by a thousand cuts." Nice and grue.

georgetheatheist said...

Day 2. Enraged citizenry continues meting out justice to the Gang of Huang. Scene: Downown Flushing. Corner of Roosevelt and Main.

Anonymous said...

Put this fuck in jail and start cleaning up Queens already!

Anonymous said...

Put this fuck in jail and start cleaning up Queens already!

Careful! He just might sing!