Should the DOB be Abolished? Builders Think So
At a City Council hearing yesterday on improving safety at construction sites, reps from the real estate industry and construction unions called for the Department of Buildings to be shut down, according to an article in the Times. Builders want the DOB to be replaced by a public corporation charged with overseeing construction. The Buildings…
At a City Council hearing yesterday on improving safety at construction sites, reps from the real estate industry and construction unions called for the Department of Buildings to be shut down, according to an article in the Times. Builders want the DOB to be replaced by a public corporation charged with overseeing construction. The Buildings Department is collapsing under the weight of its own reform, said Louis J. Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association. Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said the corporation would do more to protect the safety of the public, as well as construction workers, than most of the 12 bills submitted at the Council. Those bills, which were also discussed yesterday, include a proposal to have the DOB appoint independent safety inspectors at the expense of developers for sites with a history of violations. Robert LiMandri, the acting DOB commissioner, endorsed the independent inspector idea but is against a bill proposed by Councilmember Letitia James that would involve setting up a whistleblower’s hot line.
Many Propose Ways to Make Construction Sites Safer [NY Times]
Photo by Boon Wuldenhoos
Dear 10:33 – did you ever think that you were running a commercial venture that would have various members of the public walking through your space cosuming large quantities of potentially dangerous electricity. It was right to get fined. Think about public safety. I suppose you don’t believe in insurance as well.
Doing away with the DOB is a ill conceived idea. The Dept. has its problems but so doesn’t every other agency. Abolishing it won’t make things easier.
Guliani wanted to make the DOB part of the Fire Dept. That was also a bad idea. If anything the FD is even more ill prepared to deal with it. Their building planning division is a disaster.
newsflash: foxes urge dismantling of henhouse! walls and door “inefficient,” says president of foxes.
what do they mean by a “public corporation.” as in, publicly owned, by shareholders? i can’t imagine a bigger disaster than that. if they mean something else, i fail to see how that would remedy the problems at the DoB, and i notice they don’t provide a single example of how it would do so (in the article, at least).
Exactly, 10:34. We know who would staff this “corporation”. If we can call them a corporation.
Translation: We want to go back to the “old” ways of running the construction business in Brooklyn.
As much as I currently loathe the DoB, I don’t think a complete shutdown would solve anything. It would certainly cause more chaos than there already seems to be. The problem is the bureaucracy, not the agency itself. What needs to happen is a streamlining of their processes that will result in average folks trying to do relatively small projects (i.e. interior walls, etc.) NOT being forced to spend exorbitant amounts of cash on expeditors just to get things done within three months.
I am one of the “average folks” that I’m referring to. I have recently rented a commercial space in Gowanus with the intention of building practice studios for musicians. We started construction a few weeks ago, and were building interior walls, all up to code. We did not, however, have permits. Due to a complaint that was filed back in January about our neighbor tenants (they have a security guard living illegally and were reported for it), DoB came and slapped us with a Stop Work Order. Since then (last Monday), I’ve had to shell out $2500 for an architect, $2500 for an expeditor, and the fine is going to be $5500. So, about ten grand just to build some rooms. I was under the impression that the DoB’s latest tear was more about luxury condos, not small business people who are doing their best to do things right while staying under the radar. Ugh.
Tish James wants to set up a hotline? A hotline? Great solution. As if any construction site insider doesn’t know they could already call any number of people – hopefully including her own office – if they know of a problem. What an idiot.
classic shit. if they privatize DOB all hell will break loose.
The DOB is actually part of, or presided over by, the Fire Department.
Oh I bet builders want the DOB shut down. I’ve had my share of headaches with the DOB as a homeowner, but that doesn’t remotely sound like a good idea. It’ll last as long as it takes a bunch of people to die in some horrible way as a result of chnaged or unenforced building code.