Getting busted is not really a big deal at DOB

I suggest reading this short Daily News piece about the expediter brothers who were arrested in the DOB bust a little while ago. It's quite interesting how easy it is to be a repeat offender and get away with wrist slaps over a long period of time.

Developers get taxpayer-funded expeditor

From Crains:

In an effort to make the city's construction-approval process easier to navigate, the city's Department of Buildings announced Thursday that it has created and filled a new senior post, whose occupant will oversee the streamlining of the entire process.

Taking the job with the title of deputy commissioner of building development will be Fred Mosher. An architect at Skidmore Owings & Merrill with more than 24 years of design and construction experience, he will be in charge of construction-plan examination operations and the issuing of permits in all five boroughs. In addition, he will manage new efforts to aid development throughout the city and help to increase efficiency of the construction plan review process.

Fraudulent expeditor continues to operate

MYFOXNY.COM - Things got a bit rough when Fox 5's Arnold Diaz went to confront Queens businesswoman and convicted criminal Marah Howard.

Arnold wanted to ask her questions about a job she promised to do for a chiropractor and physical therapist.

But Arnold and his crew got a rude welcome from a guy inside the office, and even the NYPD got involved.

The sign outside Howard's office says they are licensed expeditors, but according to the Department of Buildings she surrendered her registration in 2007.

If you'd like to check out an expeditor, you can call the New York City Department of Buildings at 212-566-4120.

* DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

"Bottoms Up" went bottoms up

From the Times Ledger:

Bottoms Up, the “Rock Palace of Queens,” as proprietors Lisa “Tazz” Shelton of College Point, Charles Priola of Astoria and Paul “Vogue” Kenigsberg of Fresh Meadows, dubbed it, was a $750,000 labor of love that quickly turned into a nightmare.

They were on the way to creating a stellar music venue in the heart of Queens when they ran into problems getting a liquor license, which set off a series of setbacks that led to its premature shuttering.

“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Kenigsberg said. A large neon Bottoms Up sign they ordered even arrived without bulbs.

The entrepreneurs said they poured their life savings and then some — borrowing large sums of money and maxing out their and their friends’ credit cards — into outfitting the 20,000-square-foot space above Parts Authority at 126-02 Northern Blvd. with a $50,000 sound system, $11,000 carpets and more only to be locked out months later by U.S. marshals and lose it all.

The trio signed a lease on the space in January 2006, and in February instructed a liquor license expediter to apply for a license. In June they finished construction and began to host dry shows since they still had no liquor license.

The expediter had not yet submitted their application when they went to him that month, they said, causing them to waste tens of thousands of dollars on rent, utilities and other payments while he dithered until finally submitting it in July.

The Parts Authority could not be reached for comment.

Despite the hard knocks, the hard rocking goes on. Shelton plans to open a new bar and restaurant called Seventh Gear soon in Astoria.

Two questions for these geniuses:

1) Did Parts Authority mention to you that they're leaving soon? You know, this Willets Point thing has been in the news for quite some time...

2) How can you open a new bar and restaurant in Astoria if you're broke?

Expeditor charged with filing fraudulent DOB paperwork

From the Times Newsweekly:

The president of an expediting business was arrested on charges of faxing a phony document to her client, an architect, to make it appear that the City Department of Buildings (DOB) had approved the architect's construction job when it had not, it was announced.

Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) Rose Gill Hearn identified the defendant as Marah Howard, 28, the President of Diversified Building Services, an expediting company in Fresh Meadows.

According to the criminal complaint, in November 2008, a Brooklyn based architect hired Howard's company to expedite the filing of necessary documents with the DOB.

On Jan. 6, after receiving repeated complaints from the architect about her company's delay in filing those documents, Howard faxed the architect a purported print-out of DOB's web page, falsely stating that DOB had approved the architect's submitted application for a residential construction job on 14th Street in Brooklyn.

The architect later received the necessary approval from DOB to renovate the building's interior.