NEWS: Residents Chide Queens Building Enforcement
From the Queens Chronicle
Residents: Lots Of Talk, Little Action On Buildings
by Colin Gustafson , Assistant Editor
Despite recent efforts to beef up the enforcement of building codes, the city has not done enough to rein in unscrupulous developers, residents told Department of Buildings officials at a public meeting in Middle Village last week.
The meeting, billed as a forum to promote better communication between buildings inspectors and police, ended up giving disgruntled locals a long awaited chance to voice a raft of gripes over illegal construction in their neighborhoods — and what they believe is the buildings department’s inadequate response to the problem.
“I’m hearing bulldozers at five in the morning, on weekdays, on weekends — it doesn’t stop,” said Glendale resident Dorie Figliola, at the Committee of Organizations of Precinct 104 meeting last Wednesday at Our Lady of Hope School. “We know (developers) are working illegally, but it’s like nothing is being done.”
Queens registered more building related complaints than any other borough this year, officials said. But Intergovernmental Affairs Liaison Robert Hudak insisted that the department is doing everything possible to clamp down on violators who flout stop work orders.
In August, the agency introduced a pilot enforcement program that places mobile inspectors, informally dubbed “sheriffs,” on the streets to seek out violators and punish them. According to Department of Buildings attorney Andrew Wallace, each sheriff patrols the neighborhoods of three community boards, inspecting as many as 15 sites per day based on a list of “suspicious” developers compiled by each board. Builders caught red handed are slapped with a violation, told to stop working and, in some cases, receive criminal court summonses.
“This program gives us the element of surprise,” Wallace said. “They never know when we’re going to show. When we find them, the message is always: ‘Pack your tools and go home immediately.’”
Buildings sheriffs are also taking dated snapshots of each new work site in an effort to root out developers who begin construction prior to getting city approval.
But residents said the department’s response to violators was little more than a slap on the wrist. Under the pilot program, the mobile inspectors do not have the power to make arrests, nor can they issue criminal summonses unless police are involved in shutting down a site.
“I spent 44 years in construction, and to me enforcement means punishment,” said Ed Kempermann, second vice president of the Juniper Park Civic Association. “It sounds like all you’re really doing is telling them to go home. That’s not enforcement. We want action, not lukewarm responses.”
Glendale resident Kathy Masi asserted that inspectors were further hampered by short work hours and a lack of manpower. The pilot program employs just four sheriffs to monitor all 12 Queens community boards five days a week. “Our problems occur on the weekend,” she said. “My community board alone could use 12 sheriffs.”
Buildings officials plan to show City Council members piles of data on violators when they request more funding for the program later this year. Hudak also said the department would meet privately with police to come up with a better system for relaying information about violations and issuing court summonses. “These are all baby steps forward,” he said last Wednesday, “but they are steps forward.”