DOB amends and expands self-certification rules

Grounds for suspension of architects and engineers expanded. On January 10, 2007, the Department of Buildings adopted changes to its self-certification program, expanding grounds for exclusion and suspension of participating architects and engineers and authorizing the Commissioner of Buildings to immediately suspend participants to prevent a serious public safety threat. Included within the new grounds for suspension were cases of fraud, improper use of licenses or professional stamps, and negligence or incompetence in relation to … <Read More>


DOB proposes to amend self-certification rules

Proposal would add grounds to suspend architects and engineers from program. Buildings proposed a series of amendments to its rules that would expand the grounds for suspending and permanently excluding an architect or engineer from the professional certification program and increase scrutiny of applications and plans submitted by those architects and engineers.

New grounds for suspension and exclusion would include knowing and failing to report that a project on which they worked in any capacity … <Read More>


Psychic business ruled an accessory use

Fortune teller advertised psychic consulting business with large neon sign and awning over her first-floor apartment window. Louis and Laura Wanko leased a first-floor apartment at 333 East 52nd Street in an Upper East Side neighborhood zoned for residential uses – an R813 district. A month after moving in, Louis installed several signs without permits, announcing his wife’s fortune telling business. A neon sign, three-feet tall by two-feet wide, reading “Laura’s Psychic Vision” was bolted … <Read More>