For more than 20 years Queens civic leaders have been engaged in a good faith effort to bring reform to the city Department of Buildings. Over the past two decades we have seen the agency’s inspectors indicted for bribery, the agency’s managers “tweak” the Zoning Resolution and Building Code until it has no meaning and agency oversight failures result in injuries and death.
Earlier this year the DOB introduced a new complaint-making process it claimed would bring efficiency and improve enforcement. The new rule, which effectively limits complaints to a 45-day window, has done nothing but shut out the average New Yorker’s ability to make a complaint.
Now the DOB wants us to believe that equipping its inspectors’ cell phones with GPS devices will bring about efficiency, honesty and compliance with the city’s building and zoning regulations.
We are not convinced.
Patricia Dolan
President
Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association
Flushing
