DOB
April 24, 2008
Slope Ruin Gets Served
An tipster sent word about "that crazy building in Park Slope on the corner of 7th ave & 2nd street." Apparently the DOB affixed a notice to the building about a hearing that was supposed to take place on Monday regarding the structure's latest violation, which involves having an out-of-date permit for scaffolding. The DOB also recorded a violation on the property last year due to its owner's "failure to maintain bldg." City records do not show that the owner, Dorothy Nash, did anything to remedy the infraction, which carried a $2,500 fine (amount paid: $250). The building is legendary in Park Slope because it's been in decline for almost two decades. The Times published a piece about the property a couple months ago saying that it "radiates a mysterious, haunted quality." At the time, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn noted that "187 Seventh Avenue is an ugly mess. Nash has been offered gobs of money to sell the place but has continuously refused. She also owns a building on Second Street between Seventh and Sixth Avenue, an eyesore in similar disrepair." According to an article in the Brooklyn Paper about the property, Nash used to run a bar called Landmark out of its ground floor with odd hours and kids' toys strown about that one person said “was as if the Addams family or Queequeg from ‘Moby Dick’ opened a bar." The DOB complaints on 187 7th Avenue (there have been 21 between the beginning of '07 and now) are a fun read: The most recent involves someone calling the agency to report the building's broken windows, but the majority are records of people telling the city that the scaffolding looks ready to fall at any time, a particularly dangerous situation since the dilapidated pile is across the street form P.S. 321 and, as a few complaints noted, children often play near or under it. GMAP P*Shark DOB
April 22, 2008
Lancaster's Tenure at the DOB is History
Patricia Lancaster, the recently embattled Commissioner of the Department of Buildings, has resigned, according to City Room. Mayor Bloomberg announced the resignation and Lancaster released the following statement:
Today I submitted my resignation, which Mayor Bloomberg accepted. It has been an honor serving in his administration and I thank the Mayor for this opportunity. After six years in public service, I made this decision because I felt it was time to return to the private sector. I am proud of the groundbreaking work the department has done during my tenure to root out corruption, increase transparency, overhaul the building code and increase safety for workers and the public alike. My message today to the talented and capable staff at the Department of Buildings is to keep up the hard work: you’ve made so much important progress. It has been my distinct pleasure working with you.
It's unclear at this time who Lancaster's replacement will be.
Bloomberg’s Buildings Chief Resigns [City Room]
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.
April 14, 2008
Welcome to the Wild, Wild West
The Daily News had an article yesterday about how many Brooklynites are terrified of safety conditions (or lack thereof) at construction sites. Some choice takeaways:
-Last month the DOB inspected conditions at 305 construction sites in Brooklyn, finding violations at 87 of them and putting stop work orders on 43 of them.
-Last year Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the Daily News that she crosses the street to avoid walking under scaffolding.
-Many of the sites shut down in last month's sweep were in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
The quote of the article belongs to Assemblyman Jim Brennan, who's been pushing for DOB reform for a long time now: "It's a reactive response. Of course it's good for them to do a sweep like this, but the current process of supervision and enforcement is broken."
Yup.
Residents Nervous Over Building Sites [NY Daily News]
Brennan on the Frontlines of DOB Reform Fight [Brownstoner]
Photo by Daniel A. Norman.
April 3, 2008
Brennan on the Frontlines of DOB Reform Fight
It's no secret that the DOB's oversight of construction sites during the building boom has left a lot to be desired, a state of affairs that directly or indirectly contributed to the recent deadly scene in Midtown. It's also no secret that lawmakers have pressed the Bloomberg administration to reform the overstretched department—and Brooklyn Assemblyman Jim Brennan, in particular, has been demanding change for a long time now. This week the Voice takes a look at how Brennan introduced a bill last year requiring the DOB to reinspect hazardous violations within 60 days, a bill that Mayor Bloomberg convinced Governor Spitzer to veto. Of course, the problems at construction sites in a development-happy city run deeper than simply ensuring better DOB oversight, as the article notes:
Essentially, current buildings-department regulations create a race between aggrieved citizens and corner-cutting developers: Neighbors have to muster all their energy to stop illegal work, while builders try to outrun them, getting foundations in the ground and walls up before anyone throws a red flag. Then the developers' lawyers go to work, arguing that so much money has already been expended that civic decency should allow them to continue. In one of the few local victories, residents of a block on 15th Street in south Park Slope challenged developers who had won approval for an 11-story condo tower—even though its plans violated city rules. Neighbors hired their own top-notch lawyer to beat the scoundrels at their own game. The cost: $150,000 in legal fees. "You can get massive involvement from politicians and residents and stop rogue projects," said Brennan. "But there is no independent legal process that triggers compulsory better performance from builders."
Brennan has reintroduced his bill, which, following the eastside crane accident, stands a better chance of becoming law.
City Hall Ignored the Hazards of the Building Boom [Village Voice]
threecee.