DOB Commissioner Quits Amid Accident Concerns

[IMGCAP(1)]NEW YORK CITY-New York City’s Buildings Commissioner, Patricia Lancaster, resigned Tuesday following Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Monday press conference where he expressed concerns over numerous construction accidents that have occurred over the past five months. There have been 13 construction-related deaths in New York since Jan. 2008; whereas in 2007, there were 12 deaths in the entire year.

The deaths this year include a window installer who fell nine stories when his safety strap failed, as well as the seven people who were killed last month when a crane toppled, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. In the latter case, a city inspector was arrested and resigned after authorities said he falsely claimed he had inspected the crane. At a City Council hearing last week, Lancaster admitted her department had improperly approved a construction permit for the building where the crane collapsed.

[IMGCAP(2)]“I don’t think anybody should be fully satisfied with the Department of Buildings,” Bloomberg said at Monday’s conference. “Whether they’ve done everything they can or not is something I’m looking at.” Bloomberg did say, however, that the building boom increases the chances that things will go wrong. “If there’s more construction, it makes common sense that you probably have more accidents or mistakes made, but that’s not an excuse, and I’m looking into it.”