| Releases & Statements
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193
Testimony
of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum for State Assembly Hearing on
New York City Department
of Building Practices
Thank you Chair Brennan, Chair Lentol,
and Chair Lopez for allowing me this opportunity to testify.
Slowly but surely, the landscape of
New York City is changing. The insatiable demand for housing has
triggered waves of new development. In response, the City has
rezoned certain neighborhoods to preserve their unique character
and protect their quality of life.
But these rezonings have had an unfortunate
unintended consequence. Unscrupulous businessmen, seeing the opportunity
for high-density, high-profit development in these neighborhoods
slip away, are rushing to launch out-of-scale, out-of-character
projects before the rezonings take effect.
The rush-to-build phenomenon has a
drastic impact on safety and quality of life. Workers illegally
continue construction after daylight hours, filling the night
with noise. Hazardous conditions endanger the lives of neighbors
and workers. And when the city fails to shut down sites that violate
its codes, the community gets stuck with exactly the kind of ugly,
imposing buildings that rezoning is supposed to stop.
Recently, the residents of South Park
Slope scored a victory against rushed and illegal development
when the city voted unanimously to stop the Global Development
company from building an 11-story tower on 15th Street. Global
was using poor and illegal construction practices to beat an emergency
rezoning that would limit large-scale construction in the area.
I have advocated vigorously on behalf
of the residents of South Park Slope, so I’m pleased by
the City’s decision. It’s important to note, though,
that 15th Street isn’t the only site where developers have
engaged in illegal practices. Across the neighborhood and in other
communities throughout the city, inaccurate, self-certified architectural
plans have been filed. Stop-work orders have been flagrantly violated.
Hazardous construction practices have been flaunted. In August
of 2005, a construction worker named Arturo Gonzalez was killed
at 187 20th Street, a site that was operating with open violations
from the Department of Buildings.
Unlike the tower at 15th Street, many
of these projects have been given the go-ahead by the city. The
Department of Buildings simply isn’t living up to its responsibility
to monitor development in New York City, protect residents from
unsafe practices, and stop projects that fail to meet city codes.
Today, I would like to propose two simple reforms to empower the
DOB to better fulfill its mission.
First, DOB needs to institute a policy
of required, follow-up inspections when an initial inspection
does not lead to a conclusive finding. Under the current system,
when DOB inspectors cannot gain access to a site that’s
been subject to complaint—when, say, no one is present at
the site and the fence or door is locked—they simply file
a “no access” report and the inspection is never completed.
This lax approach makes it far too easy for unscrupulous developers
to act recklessly without consequences. The DOB must strengthen
its commitment to verifying complaints and stopping illegal practices.
Second, the DOB must take aggressive
steps to curb the abuse of the self-certification process for
contractors, architects, and developers. A plumber may be required
by the DOB to use brass piping in a particular type of building,
but if he uses cheaper copper piping while falsely certifying
that he has obeyed all city codes, no one will know the difference
until the pipes begin to deteriorate and residents are stuck with
the mess.
Similarly, there is currently no comprehensive
verification process to ensure that developers and architects
stay within the boundaries of zoning resolutions. In most cases,
the DOB is content to take them at their word. Predictably, this
approach has led to rampant noncompliance.
I have already mentioned the situation
in South Park Slope. My office has also received complaints about
buildings blatantly being used for commercial purposes in residential
zones and buildings constructed with more stories than legally
allowed.
The first step toward curbing this
flagrant disregard for the law is for the DOB to send inspectors
to a higher percentage of building sites to determine the accuracy
of self-certified statements filed by contractors, architects,
and developers.
The second step is to stiffen penalties
for false self-certification. At present, false self-certification
is a misdemeanor that results in a fine of $1000 to $5000. Needless
to say, this amount isn’t even close to enough to give a
determined developer pause. Many simply write it off as a cost
of doing business. In some cases, false self-certification can
also lead to suspension of the right to self-certify or suspension
of the guilty party’s license to do business. But even this
is not necessarily an effective deterrent. Architects whose right
to self-certify has been suspended have been known to simply pass
off their self-certification responsibilities to another member
of their firm.
We need to get tough on contractors,
architects, and developers who knowingly file false self-certifications
as a way of cutting corners and thumbing their noses at communities
that have successfully lobbied for rezoning. I have already co-sponsored
legislation in the City Council raising penalties for developers
who violate stop work orders or work without a permit. Today I
recommend a similar increase for false self-certification, as
well as suspensions that affect not only individual violators
but also the firms that allow or even encourage them to work outside
the law.
These reforms will help the DOB live
up to its responsibility to protect neighborhoods throughout New
York City. No community should feel like it’s under siege
from developers hell-bent on turning a profit at the expense of
quality of life.
Perhaps the greatest damage inflicted
by the bad developers in the bunch is that their unsafe, illegal,
obnoxious practices cause many New Yorkers to think of all development
as the enemy. Development is not the enemy. Development is a good
and necessary thing. Our city desperately needs more housing if
it’s to sustain and grow its middle class. But our city
also needs government to do its job and ensure that development
is undertaken in the interests of the people, not in spite of
them.
Thank you.
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