Tony Avella for Mayor

The city’s Department of Buildings has been in the news a lot, lately, from tragic construction-site accidents to the high-profile resignation of Commissioner Patricia Lancaster. Tony has made overdevelopment a major issue in his Mayoral campaign and reforming the Department of Buildings is a key part of this agenda. Below, Tony has outlined seven major problems with the agency which must be addressed to ensure that our city is developed safely and legally:

1. DOB must be prohibited from interpreting the zoning code. This responsibility should be the sole jurisdiction of the City’s Department of City Planning, which writes the code.

2. DOB must be given the power and latitude to prohibit repeat offenders (developers and/or contractors who violate the building and zoning code on a consistent basis) from doing construction in the City. As a Council Member, Tony introduced a “Negligent Developers” bill, Int. 697/2008, to specifically address situations where repeat offenders continuously violate the law yet continue to be given construction permits.

3. The Self-Certification procedure must be abolished. This process has led to rampant abuse. While the program remains in existence, DOB must move to revoke the license of any architect who files false or incorrect plans under the self-certification process.

4. In order to deter illegal conversions, Tony introduced a resolution before the City Council, , asking the State Legislature to increase the penalties for illegal conversions (which are often “self-certified” projects) that result in serious injury or death to felony counts.

5. DOB must be required to act on behalf of and represent adjacent property owners who have been victimized by unscrupulous developers and improper construction practices.

6. DOB must improve its ability to respond to allegations of building code violations in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, as a result of DOB’s limited number of inspectors, unscrupulous developers regularly flout the law knowing that it is unlikely that they will be caught in the act. Recently, Tony called on DOB to develop and institute a “Citizen Watch Affidavit Program”, which would allow average New Yorkers to report building code infractions, complete an affidavit, and have that affidavit treated in the same light as if a DOB inspector had made the report.

7. To ensure our safety, workers on construction sites should be union-trained or part of an approved apprentice program. Tony is currently working on legislation to ensure that workers on sites larger than one/two/three family homes are properly trained and certified.