Council Releases Report on State of Park Restrooms

On September 5, 2024, the City Council released Nature’s Call, a report about the functionality and conditions of over 100 restrooms in city parks. The report followed an investigation led by the Council’s Oversight and Investigation Division in partnership with the Council’s Community Engagement Division and Parks Committee Chair Council Member Shekar Krishnan’s office. The report found that two-thirds of the inspected restrooms – or 68 out of 102 – were closed or had <Read More>


DOB Releases Second Annual Construction Safety Report

On March 28, 2022, the Department of Buildings released its next construction safety report for the calendar year 2021. The report highlights and provides analysis for safety trends across the city, provides data regarding incidents and provides descriptions of significant construction incidents, including all nine construction-related fatalities from 2021. 


Department of Investigation Faults NYCHA and NYPD Actions

DOI faulted the failure of NYCHA and the NYPD to enforce lease conditions against criminals and criminal activities at NYCHA projects. In 1996, the NYPD and New York City Housing Authority entered into a Memorandum of Understanding designed to prevent crime and create a safer environment for residents of NYCHA’s public housing developments. NYPD agreed to provide NYCHA with all arrest and complaint reports concerning serious criminal activity committed by NYCHA residents within NYCHA developments. … <Read More>


DOI Report Exposes NYCHA’s Failure to Maintain Fire Safety Devices

The Department of Investigation’s Report found that NYCHA maintenance workers were negligent in their duties to ensure smoke and CO detectors were functioning. On October 4, 2016, the Department of Investigation issued a Report finding that New York City Housing Authority maintenance workers frequently ignored their obligation to perform safety checks and often falsified documents to cover up their negligence. DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters stated in the Report that, “DOI has now found that … <Read More>


Prison Reform: The Monitor’s First Report in the Nunez Case

Recently the City got some good news about Rikers Island, a change from the bad news of recent years. On August 2, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, together with Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, announced that for the first six months of 2016 the frequencies with which staff used serious force on inmates and inmates seriously assaulted staff dropped by nearly half over the past year. Overall uses of force and assault numbers were also down … <Read More>