Saturday, March 2, 2013

Lots of day care centers are under the radar

From the Queens Courier:

A little known law may be keeping some Queens day care centers from operating legally, The Courier has learned.

Permits from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), a certificate of occupancy from the Department of Buildings and a fire inspection pass are needed for city child care providers who fall under certain categories. These include those who look after three or more kids unrelated to them either in a private home or institution for more than three hours a day, on a regular basis.

But a less familiar rule requires these centers also give written notification to local precincts and fire departments within five days of receiving certifications, the agencies said.

“The day care centers are kind of off our radar. For safety reasons, we’d like to know where they are,” said Special Operations Lieutenant Daniel Heffernan of the 111th Precinct.

According to Heffernan, about 26 centers in the Bayside-based precinct are legally licensed with the city. The precinct’s list is still being updated, but only eight were registered with police as of press time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shut them all down!! How did the city allow this to get so out of control?

Jon Torodash said...

Hey, Anon, it's just a notification - after already passing inspection. How about instead of trampling on local businesses, the city issue a formal notice with a time window in which to comply by notifying, or face a fine, and if that's not paid by a certain date, THEN revoke the permit for operation within city limits?

Anonymous said...

See whether you can find a single day care center that shows such a use on its certificate of occupancy from DOB!

Anonymous said...

Too many of these so called day care centers are opening in the basements of single family houses.
They are ruining the characther of once nicely kept properties and residential blocks.
This was never allowed pre- 1990's