TESTIMONY


Department of Buildings Oversight Hearing
November 30th, 2000
City Hall

My name is Paul Graziano. I am the zoning and planning chairman for the Queens Civic Congress and am also a planning consultant for an architectural, engineering and planning firm in New Jersey. Today, however, I speak as a 29 year resident of Queens County and someone who is extremely concerned with the direction that the Buildings Department has taken during the past five years.

The Buildings Department has, for decades, been a much maligned agency. Activists have consistently targeted the Buildings Department for corruption, bribery and law enforcement. Scandals regularly occur about every ten years followed by a period of self-examination similar to the one taking place here today.

When self-certification was introduced, it was proposed as a way to cut down on the bureaucratic delays in the permitting process and constant bribery attempts by buildings officials that the building industry itself had been complaining about for decades. By streamlining the process, and allowing the self-certification by the applicant of the proposed building or project, the applicant could then receive the permit in days instead of weeks or months. In theory, this was an excellent idea. And, 20% of all plans would be randomly audited by the Buildings Department in order to maintain honesty in the applications. Those who tried to cheat the system would be punished by losing their licenses. Most of all, self-certification was seen as a way to remove the seduction of bribing buildings officials, who had in the past routinely asked for bribes in order to move projects forward quickly.

In reality, self-certification has been a nightmare. There has been a complete lack of enforcement of building projects. By the Buildings Department's own admission a few years ago, less than one half of one percent of all projects were being examined by their borough offices. A revolving door of commissioners, at least in Queens, has given the correct impression of improper behavior by those who are supposed to be watching over the system. Illegal development is rampant throughout the city. Permits and plans are routinely switched and/or forged; plans are regularly absent from public view at the Buildings Department, especially when a project is under scrutiny. Construction without permits occurs regularly, with no penalty to the builder; when complaints are made of clearly illegal activity, more often than not the Buildings Department legalizes the work. Furthermore, it has clearly not stopped the endemic bribery and corruption at the Buildings Department.

Self-certification has made a mockery of what is supposed to be a fair and even-handed system. It clearly has shifted the burden of finding out if a building is illegal or not from the Buildings Department on to those people interested, usually civic or homeowners associations and their members. By the time all the facts are found out, the
foundations are in the ground and they are told that it is nearly impossible to stop the project. It is time to end self-certification and return the responsibility of monitoring building projects to the government agency responsible - the Buildings Department. My only question is, who will keep them honest?

Sincerely,


Paul Graziano



go to top