DOB Commish Takes Heat at Hearing

State legislators, who’ve clearly been catching a lot of flak from their constituents, had a chance to grill DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster last Thursday on some of the development-related problems that have been getting their consituents up in arms: displacement, hazardous conditions, lax enforcement. At least the Commish didn’t try to deny some of the problems, trying to win the crowd over with frankness:

There was a perception that the Department of Buildings wasn’t home, that we would issue violations and not follow up. We think that some of the smaller contractors have no idea that they have to shore up foundations when excavating, especially in Brooklyn, where you have lots of gravel foundations. You also have some developers doing it on purpose, because they want that building to collapse because they want to buy it.

North Brooklyn Assemblyman Joseph Lentol acknowledged that some progess had been made but added that “Rome was burning and you didn’t notice until it was too late.”
DOB in the Hot Seat at State Hearing [Brooklyn Downtown Star]