DOB handing out flyers in Flushing-Main Street Station, Queens. Image Credit: DOB.

As part of campaign, list of 10 dangers created to help residents before they rent an illegally converted apartment. On December 5, 2018, the Department of Buildings in conjunction with the New York City Fire Department announced a citywide campaign to educate both tenants and property owners on the dangers of illegally-converted apartment. Representatives from both agencies will be distributing flyers throughout the five boroughs over the next three week. (read more…)

HPD provided temporary housing for tenants and then filed liens against the tenants’ former landlords for expenses in providing the temporary housing. The Court of Appeals issued one opinion involving two separate cases concerning expenses incurred by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for temporary shelter. In 1995 the Fire Department issued a vacate order affecting two tenants of a building in Brooklyn owned by David Rivera. HPD provided the tenants with temporary shelter services in single-room occupancy apartments from June 1995 through December 1995. HPD, acting under the City’s Administrative Code, filed a notice of lien against Rivera’s building seeking reimbursement for HPD’s expenses. (read more…)

Pei Pei Cheng-de Castro, the Director of Investigation and Enforcement at the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, has had a diverse career in which public service has remained a constant. Education has also been at the core of Cheng-de Castro’s career—she taught legal writing at New York Law School, founded a charter school, and now works for an agency that educates public officials on ethics laws as part of its mission.

Cheng-de Castro was born in Taiwan and raised in Southern California. After studying economics, environmental science, and education at U.C. Berkeley, she attended New York Law School with the goal of working for non-profit organizations and government agencies. (read more…)

32-49 37th Street, Queens. Image credit: GoogleMaps

City sought to demolish derelict, mid-block row-house. The Department of Buildings issued an emergency declaration to demolish a deteriorating, vacant, and dangerous row-house at 32-49 37th Street between Broadway and 34th Avenue in Astoria. In order to demolish the abandoned mid-block building, contractors were required to erect scaffolding protecting the adjoining row-houses that physically abut the derelict building. The owners of the neighboring row-houses refused access to construct the scaffolding unless the City obtained legal permission to use their property and secured protection for their properties and its occupants through insurance and other forms of indemnification. (read more…)

24-59 32nd Street in Astoria, Queens. Image credit: GoogleMaps

New owner relied on error by Buildings which had erroneously issued permit for sign in residential district. Beginning in 1941 the owner of a 4-story apartment building located at 24-59 32nd Street in Astoria, Queens, allowed a sign to be painted on the south wall of the building. In 1961 the City adopted an amendment to the zoning resolution which prohibited signs in residential districts including the district covering 24-59 32d Street. Non-conforming signs then in existence were allowed to be continued for ten years after which the sign had to be removed. Notwithstanding the zoning resolution, the Department of Buildings in February 1981erroneously renewed the sign permit at 24-59 32nd Street.  In 1998 a new owner, Astoria Landing, purchased the property and continued to lease the space for the sign. (read more…)

Department of Buildings Commissioner Chandler. Image credit: NYCC/William Alatriste

Licensed PE made multiple false and negligent filings with Buildings. The Department of Building brought an administrative proceeding against Scott Schnall, a licensed professional engineer, alleging that he knowingly or negligently made false statements in eleven alteration applications filed with Buildings between 2010 and 2014. Six of applications were in violation of the Zoning Resolution, the Multiple Dwelling Law, or the Administrative Code. The alteration applications filed related to six properties in Brooklyn. (read more…)