From City Hall:The city Buildings Department is bracing for turmoil at construction sites when dozens of collective bargaining agreements expire at the end of next month, Commissioner Robert LiMandri told a City Hall breakfast yesterday.
He said his department will be on high alert as the June 30 deadline nears, and is planning how to navigate picket lines and deal with deliberate destruction by disgruntled workers.
“That’s certainly planning for the worst, and if that happens we’ll have to do that,” said LiMandri, who noted his department has a strong relationship with the city’s district attorneys. “Sabotage is certainly, I’m sure, at the top of every construction manager’s mind, but make no mistake about it: this city is not going to tolerate that kind of behavior.”
The commissioner’s candid assessment came at a discussion hosted by Baruch College’s Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute and sponsored by the law firm Greenberg Traurig, during which he talked about the department’s challenges and successes since he took over in 2008.
Tensions between the city’s builders, contractors and unions have grown since last year. Developers say they need to cut costs 20 percent to restart the industry, and are asking for wage and benefit concessions as well as work-rule changes.
Construction workers say they have already sacrificed with temporary givebacks through project labor agreements, but have balked at making them permanent in new contracts.
Several industry workers grilled LiMandri about what they called widespread problems with unqualified and bureaucratic plan examiners, who are responsible for reviewing and approving construction plans.
7 comments:
Sabotage?
DOB is (and always has been) inept at dealing with incompetent and crooked builders.
Now how does 'ol Bobby boy intend to deal with pissed off laborers?
I'm avoiding building sites for safety reasons.
How about you?
Bloomberg's NYC has gotten totally out of hand and it looks like there's no pulling it in until Mike's term is over.
Groan....I'm counting down the days.
The DOB is the worst city agency. Their slow response to issues and lack of enforcement is destroying this city.
Jeez louise - now Limandri thinks he's running Pinkerton's Agency on behalf of the capitalists (think of Carnegie, Homestake Mines). Getting involved in labor disputes is NOT a DoB mandate - and issuing a statement like this before anything has even happened IS involvement - even if it's delusional. Someone tell him his tin star is bogus!
the bureaucracy and lack of enforcement of the D.O.B.
insane.
how can a stop work order be rescinded,permit work to continue, and the thousands of dollars of fines not be paid ?
Actualy payment of fines, once violations are issued, are not under dob control.
Fines are imposed by the ecb court and the collection is under dept. of Finance.
The big question is why isn't the agency responsible for the collection of fines, the same one that we pay real estate taxes to, put a lien on such properties ?
RE: d.o.b. and e.c.b. unpaid fines.
if you search the d.o.b.website for 196-29 42nd avenue,you will learn that over $50,000.00 for 25 violations are unpaid, for years.
the owners names of the ,all most finished, Kon Wah Daycare Center have been misspelled with asian inversion of names. eg. lee kon,kon yee, and various shu names.(they own the daycare center in main st. flushing,site of J.lui's old CM office.
campaign donations to the former cm are listed by the city from the owners of the center.
is the n.y.c.treasury not broke? who is responsible for this "OVERSIGHT".
This place is old news. Article is from 2008. Most of these people are probably now living in illegal lofts in deeper darker parts of Bushwick as this place is too expensive now.
I looked at living here once, my "room" consisted of half a root with another guy sleeping directly on the roof.
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