From the Daily News:Queens has become fertile ground for city inspectors looking to rack up violations against local businesses, according to a new report by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
Inspections by the Department of Consumer Affairs in Queens more than doubled from 2010 to 2012, de Blasio said.
“They turned these businesses into their own ATM,” de Blasio said at a Monday news conference in Richmond Hill.
Business owners in the borough have recently complained about receiving hundreds of dollars in fines for missing pricetags, failing to post return policies and other minor violations.
De Blasio said his office sued the city to get the statistics. He said inspections by Consumer Affairs have increased more than 40% across the city from 46,635 in fiscal year 2009 to 77,481 in fiscal year 2012.
The spike in violations handed out citywide by the Health Department was even greater, de Blasio said, from 179,677 in fiscal year 2009 to 311,465 in fiscal year 2012.
Seven of the 10 neighborhoods issued the highest number of Health Department violations are in Queens, figures show.
And Queens businesses receive 22% more fines from Consumer Affairs inspectors than those in Manhattan.
7 comments:
This is so true. Why haven't our elected "representatives" stepped forward on this???
What a crock, A crock with a crook. DeBlasio pictured with a Richmond Hill phony business leader and a fruitstand that is a neighborhood horror show.
Go after deadbeat slumlords instead.
They owe NYC millions in fines.
BTW
You never see a DOB inspector when you need one, except when one is there to collect a bribe from an unscrupulous developer.
Speaking from Jamaica Queens, business owners should be fined, especially when it comes to not cleaning up in front of their places of business. I totally agree with the one comment about going after deadbeat slumlords. But also go after owners of vacant properties that are garbage dumps, plus home owners who do not clean up in front of their places and have garbage piled sky high with no lids on the containers.
If you think the penalties are frivolous, change the law, not the fines.
That fruit place and the rest of Liberty Ave is full of violations, DOB, Consumers, Fire- you name it it's there. DeBlasio is pandering.
As a business owner the amount of inspections have tripled over the last few years. Every time its something different. I have a return policy posted by the register and then they tell me I also need it by the door, then the next time they tell me I also needed one by each of the products with return exceptions. The rules are constantly changing with no notifications, small business owners can't keep up. The city should be limited to how many times a year they can change rules and then notify businesses of the change before being able to go out and issue fines.
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