David Goldin, Administrative Justice Coordinator

The 2005 City Charter Revision Commission proposed a Charter amendment to require the Mayor and the Chief Judge of the Office of the Administrative Trials and Hearings to create a code of ethics for the over 500 administrative law judges and hearing officers in the City’s administrative tribunals. At the time it was unclear to what extent the State Code of Judicial Conduct applied to and could be enforced against ALJs. The proposition passed, and in 2006 Mayor Bloomberg created the Office of the Administrative Justice Coordinator and appointed David Goldin as its head. Working with the Law Department and the Conflict of Interest Board, Goldin oversaw the creation of rules of conduct that ALJs use today. (more…)

First major revision of the City’s Building Code to take effect July 2008. On June 27, 2007, the City Council voted 47-0-1 to approve the Bloomberg Administration’s proposal to replace the City’s building code with a modified version of the International Building Code. The vote followed two public hearings before the City Council’s Committee on Housing & Buildings and culminated nearly five years of work led by the Department of Buildings. Over 400 volunteers, primarily experts in the fields of construction, fire safety, engineering, architecture, government and affordable housing, labored over section-by-section revisions to the International Building Code to make it applicable to the city’s unique density and building issues.

The Council approved a new Building, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Code along with amendments to the new administrative sections of the code. This vote followed the 2005 approval of a new Plumbing Code and the administrative sections which are to become effective with the full code. Mayor Bloomberg signed the new code on July 3rd. (more…)

Architect self-certified applications with incorrect zoning. Architect David Nagan was hired in 2004 to prepare a zoning analysis for two adjacent lots in Queens. Nagan determined the lots were in an R3 district, which allowed for the construction of two, two-family semidetached homes with a common wall along the lot line. In April of 2005, the City Council rezoned the lots to R3X, a zoning district that prohibited semi-detached homes. About six months after the zoning change, Nagan submitted two self-certified applications to Buildings for permits to construct both semidetached homes. Buildings granted the applications, and construction was completed in 2006.

After Buildings performed an audit, it determined that the zoning designation for each application was incorrect and petitioned to have Nagan excluded from the self-certification program. The petition cited a recently enacted Administrative Code amendment that required mandatory sanctions against an architect who submitted two incorrect self-certified applications within a 12-month period. At his hearing, Nagan argued that the recently enacted amendment should not retroactively apply to the applications he submitted two years before the amendment was passed. (more…)

Crane in front of 461 Dean Street, Brooklyn. Image Credit: Google Maps

Crane operator operated a tower crane without proper license. On April 14, 2016, Wayne Miller, a hoisting machine operator, was working with J.F. Stearns Comp. LLC , a construction company, at 461 Dean Street in Brooklyn. The Department of Buildings served a summons Miller for operating a tower crane without the proper endorsement and without a proper renewal. (more…)

Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris testifying at the hearing Image Credit: City Council

Small Business hearings takes dire tone. On August 13, 2020, the City Council Committee on Small Business held a remote public hearing, on three bills that would cumulatively limit third-party food delivery services and require the Department of Small Business Services to create reports on COVID-19 related small business grants and loans. Beyond the three bills, the hearing also delved into the state of small business in the City and potential action to alleviate stresses on the small business community. The three bills are detailed below:

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