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April 22, 2008
Are the DOB Commish's Days Numbered?
Outrage over Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster's management of her agency is growing amidst revelations that the DOB approved plans for a glass tower on East 51st Street that flouted zoning regulations. Seven people died at the tower's construction site last month after a crane collapsed. According to an article in the Times, even Mayor Bloomberg is having a hard time defending the DOB nowadays. “I don’t think anybody should be fully satisfied with the Department of Buildings’ performance,” the mayor said yesterday. “Whether somebody could have done a better job — I’m trying to — whether they could have done a better job I just don’t know.” Indeed, it is a hard thing to "know," since the mayor's administration has been so staunchly pro-development that the DOB has clearly had a problem enforcing safety standards for all the building's it's approved. “You have a Buildings Department that seems more interested in preserving the rights of developers at the expense of citizens and the community,” said Bruce Silberblatt, a retired contractor. Thirteen people have died in construction-related accidents so far this year, one more fatality than in all of 2007. "If there's more construction, it makes common sense that you probably have more accidents or mistakes made," the mayor is quoted as saying in the Post. "But that's not an excuse. I'm looking at the Buildings Department the same ways I'm looking at every single other agency in this city." Lancaster says she's done a lot to reform the DOB since taking it over in 2002 and notes that she serves "at the pleasure of Mayor Bloomberg...I know we have much more to do to, and as long as I have the mayor's support, I will forge ahead and continue to strengthen the Buildings Department's oversight and regulation of the construction industry."
As Construction Deaths Rise, Buildings Chief Faces Scrutiny [NY Times]
Mayor Dissatisfied With Buildings Department [NY Sun]
Mike Rips Construx Agency [NY Post]
Photo from the Observer.
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Comments
It seems pretty inevitable. I'm surprised she still has a job.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 9:30 AM
Any chance she was hot 30 years ago?
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 9:43 AM
it's all just a big joke to them ... until non construction workers die. then they start calling each other names but still do nothing.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 9:51 AM
If I was her I wouldn't be leaning against that railing so hard... It might just break loose!
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 10:18 AM
Construction work in this city is safer than it has ever been, and is still far safer than pretty much everywhere else in the world.
Let's just try and keep this woman's performance in perspective here.
Posted by: Polemicist at April 22, 2008 10:28 AM
FFiring her is not good enough.
She will leave with a very large, Tax payer funded, pension and not be held accountable for any of her actions.
Or maybe they will give her another tax payer funded job (Ex. Susan Hinkson now at the BSA)
Put her (and Bloomberg who encouraged her to allow the abuses by developers for the sake of the transfer taxes they generated) on trial.
They (both) have violated the public trust and stolen countless tax dollars to do so.
Make them personally pay for any and all damages incurred by there willful negligence.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 10:56 AM
"Construction work in this city is safer than it has ever been, and is still far safer than pretty much everywhere else in the world."
Tell that to the people who got snuffed by the crane.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:12 AM
"Construction work in this city is safer than it has ever been, and is still far safer than pretty much everywhere else in the world."
Try telling that to the people who got snuffed by the crane.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:14 AM
"Construction work in this city is safer than it has ever been, and is still far safer than pretty much everywhere else in the world."
Try telling that to the people who got snuffed by the crane.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:14 AM
If I was her I wouldn't be leaning against that railing so hard... It might just break loose!
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:18 AM
Susan Hinkson was hired to the Board of Standards and Appeals on the recommendation of Sheldon Lobel P.C., the law firm that represents developers in front of the BSA (against communities). Hmmm ... I wonder how that works out? This kind of corruption needs to be stopped.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:19 AM
Hinkson was the DoB Commissioner out on S.I. for awhile...between jobs.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:25 AM
If her days aren't numbered, they should be. Other City Commissioners have lost their heads for less.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 11:50 AM
She just resigned. Good riddance.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 12:22 PM
Isn't the bigger issue that the DOB is woefully under-staffed? Bad leadership is of course a problem. But how can the city enforce the already-meager regulations that are on the books with so few people to do the work?
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 12:37 PM
Can you say "scapegoat"?
DO you realy believe this one woman was the problem? You think it's going to be better tomorrow. Clueless.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 12:55 PM
It's like trying to dislodge a mollusk. I guess enough people died this year that Lancaster finally got the picture through her thick skull.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 2:08 PM
Every other city agency has to do more with less. The better Commissioners figure out ways to put the fire under those lazy ass civil servants who work for them, she should have done the same.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 2:30 PM
"DO you realy believe this one woman was the problem? You think it's going to be better tomorrow."
She was the boss when the problems happened, so she has to take the blame. Period.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 2:45 PM
"DO you realy believe this one woman was the problem? You think it's going to be better tomorrow."
She was the boss when the problems happened, so she has to take the blame. Period.
Posted by: guest at April 22, 2008 2:46 PM
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