DOB Gets Reorganized
Back in April, after a wave of deadly construction accidents, Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster resigned, leaving her deputy, Robert LiMandri, to take her place temporarily. In August, his acting director title was made permanent, and now he’s making some personnel changes, “designed to further standardize the Department’s operations across the five boroughs,” per a press…
Back in April, after a wave of deadly construction accidents, Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster resigned, leaving her deputy, Robert LiMandri, to take her place temporarily. In August, his acting director title was made permanent, and now he’s making some personnel changes, “designed to further standardize the Department’s operations across the five boroughs,” per a press release from the DOB. First up: Fatma Amer, a licensed engineer, will be First Deputy Commissioner, whose job will be to make sure inspection and examination protocol is followed by all (some of those fatal crane accidents were traced to faulty inspections). Borough commissioners will get a shuffling, too: Thomas Fariello, R.A., is now acting Bronx Borough Commissioner; Ira Gluckman, R.A., will be Queens Borough Commissioner; Marshall Kaminer, P.E., will be Borough Commissioner of Staten Island; Derek Lee, R.A., is Brooklyn Borough Commissioner; Magdi Mossad, P.E., gets the Manhattan Borough Commissioner post; and Christopher Santulli, P.E., is acting Assistant Commissioner for Engineering and Safety Operations. The new assignments take place on November 17.
The DOB is a nightmare. For those of you who think Professional Certification is an abuse have not had to deal with the DOB for a substantial sized job. They examiners are now so gun shy that they basically force you to Prof. Cert. otherwise it takes way too long for an approval. The examiners refer every little issue to someone more senior to them and therefore that also takes forever.
A complete fiasco.
I agree with g_man, this is not a beneficial move by DOB to the building industry. Tossing bad apples may be one thing, reorganization for the sake of mixing things up just backlogs the system.
As a person who felt Commissioner Mossad of the Bklyn DOB was a 110% improvement over Hinkson (who’s messing up the BSA as we speak), not that Mossad was correct all the time, I hope another Queens DOB person continues the good work he did.
My pov.
For those people who work regularly with the borough commissioner, this means building an all new relationship with a new person. Only time will tell whether or not the benefits out-weigh the disadvantages from that perspective.
The DOB is a nightmare to deal with.
If it’s a small generic renovation, it’s fine.
But if you’re filing a conversion, re-zoning new building, addition, etc. Be prepared to be held up at the DOB for months and months and months.
Overall this is a good idea but in the short- and medium-term this is going to be a nightmare for anyone looking to file for a permit as all the inspectors go into CYA / ‘dot all I’s, cross all T’s’ mode.
Have you ever tried to work with a massive bureaucracy when they go by the exact letter of the law?! And you thought DOB was slow before …
These “personnel changes” will change nothing. It’s the same people, business as usual.
They should also replace the examiners that can’t read drawings!!!