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Crumbling City Buildings Racked Up Hundreds of Violations — Report

By DNAinfo staff
April 24, 2011 11:19am | Updated April 24, 2011 11:15am
Gracie Mansion is among the city-owned structures that has accumulated Department of Buildings violations.
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Flickr/SpecialKRB

By Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Hey New York, you might want to get your house in order - while it's still standing.

City-owned buildings have amassed hundreds of outstanding Buildings Department violations - from paperwork snafus to citations for crumbling walls and facades, according to a report.

Manhattan Criminal Court, at 100 Centre Street, has an eyepopping 109 open violations, including failing to maintain the stairs used to exit the building and a partial stop work order for not getting approval for work done in two courtrooms, the Daily News says.

And it's law and disorder over at police headquarters at 1 Police Plaza, where there are 98 violations, ranging from failing to file boiler and elevator inspection reports to not equipping emergency exits with their own power supply - a requirement since 9/11.

The Manhattan Criminal Court building at 100 Centre Street had 109 open Department of Buildings violations.
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DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

Although many of the violations are minor, some were issued by the Environmental Control Board, which can levy fines of up to $25,000 for more serious infractions.

While private building owners cited by the ECB typically have a month to pay the fine or appear in court, violations to city buildings have gone uncorrected for years, the report says.

One critic slammed what he called a "double standard" in enforcement.

"The city has really stepped up their enforcement on private building owners in recent years, but they clearly haven't cared about their own," Frank Ricci, a spokesman for the Rent Stabilization Association, told the News.

Even the Department of Buildings headquarters, at 280 Broadway, near Chambers Street, has a slew of open violations including failing to safeguard a crumbling facade and not installing proper fire safeguards in the basement.

Among the 16 for Gracie Mansion are failing to fix a crumbling wall.  The problem was corrected but the Department of Buildings was never informed, the report says.

An administration source told the paper that the city needs to do a better job at fixing the problems and keeping records.

A spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which maintains a number of the structures, says that many of the violations were in the process of being rectified, according to the paper.


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