BY EILEEN STUKANE | Last week was Construction Safety Week in New York City — and on May 4, the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) held its Build Safe/Live Safe Conference at the New York Marriott Downtown (85 Wall St.).
Along with the citywide building boom has come an increase in construction accidents, so safety is high on the DOB’s list of priorities. At any given time, about 300 cranes are operating across the boroughs, and New Yorkers have heard too much news about fatalities due to crane collapses — most recently on February 5, when strong winds toppled a crane, which crashed to the ground on Worth St. in Tribeca, killing a 38-year-old pedestrian.
Among the construction safety seminars offered to the 300 Build Safe/Live Safe attendees — a mix of architects, engineers, contractors, government regulators and other construction professionals — one session stood out. “Tenant Protection” was the theme of a seminar that addressed the safety of those residing in buildings under construction.
A year ago, this paper reported that the Chelsea-based Community & Residents Protection Working Group (CRP) had exposed the frequent falsification of the DOB’s PW1 construction permit applications. Landlords/developers indicated that buildings they were planning to renovate were unoccupied — when, in truth, they were occupied. By filing for “Unoccupied” building permits, developers cleverly bypassed the Tenant Protection Plans required in occupied buildings. Residents, therefore, suffered harassment by construction, which often drove them out of their homes for good.
THE DOB EFFORT TO CORRECT AND EVOLVE
At this year’s Tenant Protection seminar, the DOB specified that landlords and/or developers needed to make detailed and specific provisions for Tenant Protection Plans that would cover six major areas: Egress, Fire Safety, Health, Compliance with Housing Standards, Structural Safety, and Noise Restrictions.
The DOB’s requirement for a comprehensive Tenant Protection Plan for occupied buildings dates back to 1983 — but it seemed there was not a recent need to enforce this requirement, because falsified permits made it appear as though many buildings were without tenants. The DOB has been alerted to this deceptive practice by so many residents and activist groups, that it is now making substantial efforts to change. Timothy Hogan, the DOB’s Deputy Commissioner of Enforcement, spoke at length to Chelsea Now about subject matter covered at the Tenant Protection seminar, as well as its ripple effects on public access to DOB procedure and protocol.
“Tenant Protection Plans were usually recorded in the architectural plans,” said Hogan. “Now we require transparency; that a Tenant Protection Plan [has to] be filed separately so it’s visible online to people as a separate document. It’s in a virtual folder online, and tenants are able to see the folder if they bring up their address.” The NYC Building Information System online provides the information.
Hogan also explained that the DOB had changed its procedures. “Previously, if someone had checked the box that a building was ‘Unoccupied’ and we found out that it was ‘Occupied,’ he was allowed to refile the documents and make a correction. Now we write ECB [Environmental Control Board] violations, DOB violations, and, in some instances, criminal summonses against the people who false file. We’ve changed our posture on that.
“Additionally, we’re working more and more with DHCR [New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal] to identify the rent-stabilized units that are out there, and when we get applications that come in that affect those buildings we look at them with more scrutiny to make sure we don’t have an issue going on there, falsifying the documents.” The DOB is working on a stronger digital connect to DHCR, but as Hogan said, “We’re not there, but it’s coming.”
Hogan has conducted outreach programs with the New York City Bar Association (among attorneys that represent contractors, builders, co-ops, and condo boards), regarding the issue of falsified PW1 applications.
“We’ve also been working heavily with the HPD [NYC Housing Preservation and Development],” said Hogan. “On a weekly basis we go out to [a] select group of buildings where we believe there is construction going on that is either questionable as far as a tenant harassment situation, or there are HPD concerns based on their inspections, that work is going above and beyond what’s allowed on permits, or permits were not handled properly. In the last two years we’ve been to 514 of those questionable buildings and we’ve issued over 1,900 violations and over 100 Stop-Work Orders. That’s been a very proactive task force that is being run between HPD and DOB.”
ADDRESSING ACCOUNTABILITY AND FASTER RESPONSE TIME
In 2015, Rick Chandler, the DOB’s Commissioner, announced that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Building One City (“A Blueprint for Fundamental Transformation at the New York City Department of Buildings”) plan of modernization would include the hiring of new enforcement inspectors. Hogan confirmed that the number of enforcement inspectors has increased and will keep increasing through 2017. Reportedly, 100 new inspectors will be hired.
Should a Tenant Protection Plan be missing in an occupied building under construction, a resident can call 311 or file a complaint online, at www1.nyc.gov/311. When asked whether inspectors would investigate unannounced, Hogan answered, “If we receive a complaint, it is normally registered online, so the owner of the building may know a complaint is pending in relation to a tenant issue. It depends on whether we get there quickly or whether it takes a little longer. Each time varies. If we have a specific property that we’re looking at because there’s an issue related to tenant protection, then we go out and inspect unannounced; just show up.”
Brandon Kielbasa, one of the organizers of Stand for Tenant Safety (STS; standfortenantsafety.com), a citywide coalition of community organizations dedicated to protecting tenants who are being subject to landlord harassment by construction, is concerned about the DOB’s reaction time. “We welcome the improvements that DOB is trying to incorporate,” said Kielbasa. “I’ve seen some improvement and that’s great, but we really need to shift toward faster response times. I don’t see a vast change from where I’m at.
“Putting Tenant Protection Plans online is fine, but the reality is that bad-acting landlords falsify their permits, put whatever they need to in the Tenant Protection Plans, and then they go and do whatever the hell they want to in their buildings. We really do need expedited enforcement efforts. We need Real Time Enforcement, a crucial bill being sponsored by NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin.”
The Real Time Enforcement bill is included in the 12-bill package of legislation the City Council put forth in September 2015 to comprehensively reform the DOB and help protect victims of “harassment by construction.” Levin’s bill would create a Real Time Enforcement Unit in the DOB, which would be responsible for enforcing the construction codes with respect to occupied multiple dwellings with complaints related to work without a permit, or work being done on more than 10 percent of the building. The Real Time Enforcement Unit would also be responsible for conducting inspections of such buildings and issuing notices of violation or Stop-Work Orders. Additionally, the DOB would be required to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of the Real Time Enforcement Unit.
“When we’re at hearings with the DOB, testimony from them says that Real Time Enforcement would be difficult for them to incorporate in some way,” said Kielbasa. “What we see too often with DOB is that they get out there, not often enough, and very frequently too late. Real Time Enforcement is a robust solution to that issue of them not getting out on time during mass gut renovation construction.” He spoke of a tenant who filed a complaint with 311 about a construction crew working on Saturdays without permits. The DOB inspector did not come until two weeks later (on a weekday), and reported that no work was being done.
More recently, Icon Realty Management bought a nine-story building at 57 Second Ave. (btw. E. Third & E. Fourth Sts.), and demolished the long lobby floor. “Tenants came downstairs to find the length of the lobby [turned to] a pile of stones basically, with no precautions, nothing for the people, and many were seniors or people with mobility issues, since they had lived in that building for decades,” said Kielbasa. “Our recourse was to call 311. However, we were lucky that we could also call our councilmembers to ask them to expedite a DOB complaint, but not everyone has that. We feel that tenants in a lot of neighborhoods need legislation. The agency needs enough robust capacity and the right tools to make the situation that I’m talking about not a problem for people.”
STRONG STEPS TAKEN
The Tenant Protection seminar outlined 27 items to be considered in a Tenant Protection Plan, and there is a strong commitment from Hogan to correct abuses. “We’re going to continue to upgrade our technology in the infrastructure that we have as part of our Building One City plan,” said Hogan, asserting, “In doing so, we’ll be able to better enhance our efforts to crack down on individuals who engage in harassment by construction.”
It was thanks to the Tenant Protection Unit of DHCR, working with NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, that Steven Croman — landlord of more than 140 NYC apartment buildings — was indicted on May 9, on 20 felony counts that could result in as many as 25 years in prison. Independently, Croman was also named in a civil lawsuit filed in NY Supreme Court for using illegal means to harass, pressure, and drive tenants out of their apartments.
311 REMAINS THE MEANS OF ACTION
If you are being harassed by construction in your building, especially if no tenant protection is evident, either call 311 or go online to 31l. This is currently the best means of getting action from the DOB. You will be given a reference number when you call.
As Alexander Schnell, spokesman for the DOB, advised: “I would recommend those tenants keep their reference numbers, and then they can follow up on the NYC Building Information System. They can go on, they can look at their complaint in the system. The reference number will be right there.”
