Image credit: Jeff Hopkins.

***THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN FOUR YEARS AGO IN CITYLAW*** The SAFE Act, the acronym for the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act – New York State’s January, 2013 omnibus gun control law – provides an excellent opportunity to assess the potential impact of maximally politically feasible gun control, an exercise all the more relevant in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.  The SAFE Act did not have to be negotiated or compromised.  The New York legislature passed it without hearings, debate, or input from gun owners and their advocates. The Act included several of the top priorities of gun control proponents. While the SAFE Act was a political triumph, its implementation has been problematic and its enforcement practically non-existent. (read more…)

Filomio Truck Sales. Image Credit: Google Maps.

Trucking company fenced in and used City land that had been mapped as a City street. On July 27, 1967, the City condemned a parcel of land owned by the Filomio family and located at 3870 Boston Road in the Bronx. The City condemned the parcel, referred to as Damage Parcel 43, in order to complete a road expansion project. The family did not object to the taking and was compensated by the City. The Filomio family continued using the remaining property not condemned until February 1968, when the family transferred ownership of the property to the family business, Filomio Truck Sales. (read more…)

280 Park Avenue, Manhattan. Image Credit: Google Maps.

Owner installed boiler to support cleaning services without a plumbing permit. In March 2019, the New York City Department of Buildings approved Wassoff Plumbing & Utility Co.’s application to replace a boiler that supported dry cleaning services in a building located at 280 Park Avenue in Manhattan.  After the contractor performed the work, a Buildings inspector issued the contractor a summons for replacing the boiler without a plumbing permit. The inspector alleged that the new classic tubeless steam boiler with backflow prevention had been connected to a new water line without the required plumber’s permit. (read more…)

364 Meredith Avenue, Staten Island. Image Credit: Google Maps.

A rigging accident at a construction site killed a pedestrian. On March 10, 2017, a pedestrian was struck and killed by falling debris that became pried loose during rigging operations at a construction site located at 364 Meredith Avenue in Staten Island. Joseph Volpe, the Master Rigger on the job, delayed notifying the Department of Buildings about the incident despite being required to do so.  Following the accident, Buildings revoked Volpe’s Master Rigger’s licenses to hoist materials and issued five summonses charging various building code violations. (read more…)

303 East 46th Street. Image Credit: Google Maps.

Owner added staircase to create a duplex but failed to get permit to do work. The corporation AS 303 LLC owns an apartment building located on 303 East 46th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue, in Manhattan. The building was authorized to have eleven class “A” units over the five floors. The owner converted apartments 2E and 3E into a duplex by building a staircase connecting 2E to 3E and added another bedroom. The owner then leased the duplex through Airbnb. The owner had not gotten a permit to make this conversion. (read more…)