Latest Crane Accident Reveals Need for Buildings Reforms
June 12, 2008
I am pictured attending a press conference organized by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer in response to the most recent crane collapse at 333 East 91st Street in my district on May 31.
This tragedy and the subsequent arrest of the city’s head crane inspector on bribery charges reveals that the City has yet to address the ongoing construction safety crisis. I have reviewed the Department of Building’s public records for 333 East 91st Street and I am angry to discover that 23 complaints were made by New Yorkers who called 311 to express their concern about safety at this worksite in the last year. New Yorkers are always being told, “If you see something, say something.” These 23 New Yorkers did their civic duty, but their government failed them.
The change in leadership at the New York City Department of Buildings was a good first step, but it’s not enough. In April, the Assembly Committee on Cities, of which I am a member, held a joint hearing with the Committees on Codes and Housing, to examine the power, duties, and accountability of New York’s construction authorities. At that hearing, I questioned Acting Commissioner Robert LiMandri about the events surrounding the tragic crane collapse at 400 East 67th Street, as well as the Department’s processes and procedures for enforcing safety violations in general.
It is all too clear that serious reforms are necessary and overdue. Assembly Member Joe Lentol, introduced a bill (A.11074) that I am a sponsor of that would split the Department of Buildings into two separate departments – so that the people that approve a project and those that are responsible for issuing buildings violations are not the same. Particulary after these last few months, New Yorkers are rightfully suspicious of Buildings Inspectors. For too long, the proverbial fox has been guarding the chicken coop. It’s far past time to change the way the City does business so that safety and enforcement become higher priorities.
An Outrageous Lack of Accountability: Taking Action to Improve Construction Safety
April 24, 2008
The horrifying death of a young construction worker at 400 East 67th Street comes at a time when problems with construction safety in New York have reached crisis proportions. The building site where the incident occurred had an astounding 38 open ECB violations, of which 36 were Class A – the most serious.
This building site should have been shut down long before the accident happened. No construction should have been allowed until all the serious violations were cured. The New York City Department of Buildings must answer for this appalling failure of oversight. I am outraged by the lack of accountability at this site and at construction sites citywide. The Department of Buildings needs more inspectors, but inspections alone are meaningless without vigorous enforcement. We should not have to wait for more tragedies to occur before this lesson is learned.
This accident, along with the recent crane collapse tragedy on 51st Street, has highlighted the urgent importance of ensuring better oversight of construction sites in New York City. I have joined with Borough President Scott Stringer to help implement Borough Construction Watch, which will work with community leaders around Manhattan to improve accountability from construction firms and city agencies, to help prevent such disasters from occurring again.
