Housing and Buildings

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to sidewalk shed inspections. This bill would require that sidewalk sheds that have been installed for more than one year to undergo safety inspections at least once every six months by the Department of Buildings at the cost of the building owner for which the shed has been installed.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the New York city building code in relation to removing construction-related equipment. This bill would create timeframes for the removal of construction-related equipment when there is no active construction and would permit the city to correct unsafe conditions of exterior walls.

This bill would require owners to install and maintain radiator covers.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York in relation to penalties for violations of conditions and restrictions on privately owned public spaces

This bill would increase from $4,000 to $10,000the minimum penalty for a violation of the legal requirements applicable to a privately owned public space.

This bill would require the Department of Buildings to report on all construction accidents that result in an injury or fatality to a member of the public or a construction worker.

This bill would require that contractors working on certain projects receiving City financial assistance participate in an apprenticeship program. It would also require reporting of certain information concerning such projects.

Nearly 9,000 scaffolds that entomb 190 miles of City sidewalks may soon be dismantled, under legislation introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos. Unnecessary scaffolding also known as “sidewalk sheds” would have to be removed if seven days pass without construction work.
 
Sidewalk sheds are temporary structures, made of wooden planks, boards and metal pipes to protect pedestrians from dangerous conditions that are being corrected or new construction. Scaffolding is not only an eyesore but attract crime such as drug deals and provide an alternative to shelter for homeless. Many sidewalk sheds persist for years, sometimes more than a decade. There are several sidewalk sheds in Council District 5 represented by Kallos that have been up for years, over two years at 340 East 64th Street and 301 East 95th Street and over three years at 349 East 74th Street. Often times, it is much more expensive to fix a dangerous condition than to leave a sidewalk shed up indefinitely

Kallos’ legislation would set the following timeline for sidewalk sheds in place for dangerous conditions:

• 90 days for building owners to fix a dangerous condition,
• 90 additional for building owners days to fix the dangerous condition upon extension,
• After 180 days, the city would do the work to correct the dangerous condition and bill the owner for all costs.
• Work could not be interrupted for more than 7 days without a mandate to take down the sidewalk shed or face heavy penalties.

Under the same legislation, new construction would need to continue without more than 7 days of interruption until the new development is safely capped off or completed. Exemptions in the legislation provide for weather, stop work orders, time awaiting permit renewals or in cases of safety risks.

The legislation seeks to solve the following longstanding problems with affordable housing:

• Non-Registration – owners fail to register thousands of buildings with tens of thousands of units for which they receive hundreds of millions in tax breaks each year.
• Paper Applications – applicants must mail an application request, receive the application by mail, return the application by mail, and wait hoping nothing got lost in the mail.
• Lotteries and Rejections – three quarters of applications have been rejected in lotteries because individuals apply for the wrong affordable housing for their income.
• Waiting List Corruption – investigations revealed dozens of instances of corruption and bribery surrounding waiting lists for affordable housing.
• Numerous Individual Places to Apply – Multiple websites offered by DHCR,HPD, HDC  and non-profits like Met Council as well as at individual affordable housing buildings.

This local law would create an affordable housing internet portal. It provides requirements for both the portal itself and for units that would be listed on the portal.

This bill allows the city to impose tax liens on buildings which contain 20 or more dwelling units where the total value of all such judgments against the building is $60,000 or more, or a building which contains between 6 and 19 dwelling units, where the value of the judgments is $30,000 or more. The bill contains exceptions for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s preservation projects.

This bill would expand the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Third Party Transfer program, which allows the City to foreclose and sell distressed residential buildings to pre-qualified third parties, to include buildings whose owners have incurred large amounts of unsatisfied building violations.