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NYC Council weighs bill to tighten building safety measures following Bronx collapse
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Apr 25, 2024
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Brittany Kriegstein/Gothamist
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Apr 25, 2024
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New building safety legislation in response to a partial building collapse in the Bronx last year would require more stringent safety inspections, impose tighter deadlines for landlords to correct violations, and inflict escalating penalties for failing to meet those deadlines.
Councilmember Pierina Sanchez of the Bronx announced the measure, known as the Billingsley Structural Integrity Act, on the steps of City Hall on Thursday morning ahead of a City Council hearing on the measure later in the day.
She said the bill would work to prevent situations like what happened at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in December, when a column of corner apartments in the aging seven-story building came pancaking down in the middle of the afternoon.
“Questions remain about what the Department of Buildings could have done to prevent this tragedy, and whether our systems are doing enough to let us know whether we are doing enough to keep our tenants safe,” Sanchez said.
The Facade Inspection Program by the city’s Department of Buildings requires buildings over six stories to be inspected every five years. But Sanchez said some earlier facade reports at Billingsley Terrace were never completed, and the most recent report outlined violations that were never addressed.
The bill would establish a risk-based inspection program to identify structurally hazardous buildings. It would also require that building owners submit a detailed plan within 10 days of receiving a notice of violation for unsafe conditions. It would mandate that building owners address hazard hazardous violations immediately, and lesser violations within 30 days. It would limit non-emergency work permits at buildings with outstanding violations, and would implement penalties for non-compliance.
Sanchez was joined by Juan Ricart, a first-floor tenant of the damaged building, who said he spent three months in a homeless shelter after his home of 37 years crumbled onto the grocery store below.
“I had to wear the same clothing for three days because everything was in the garbage,” he said. “And I've been losing weight because … I had no place to cook until like three weeks ago.”
Ricart, who now lives in a different unit of the building, was one of nearly 170 people displaced by the collapse. The city's Department of Buildings later blamed the incident on a crucial construction error, where workers jackhammered a ground-floor support column. No one was killed.
But Sanchez, who said she’s worked closely with the displaced residents, said problems abounded in the building long before it made headlines.
“There were warning signs here. [The city’s housing agency] had issued over 350 violations in this building,” Sanchez said. “Eighty-three alone were in 2023. Many of these were class C and class B violations, which means that they were dangerous to the health and safety of the residents.”
Residents interviewed by Gothamist at the building right after the collapse said rats, leaks and visible cracks in the walls were normal and it often took weeks for any issues to be addressed.
Residents faced a continuing onslaught of challenges in the months since the collapse, including pressure from their landlord to drop lawsuits and a massive leak in the lobby after a heavy spring rainstorm.
Many of the tenants came home after the collapse to find that their vacant apartments had been looted, according to the Legal Aid Society, which is representing tenants in a lawsuit against the building’s owner David Kleiner.
“If we're honing in on the worst actors, then maybe we're catching things a little bit earlier,” Sanchez said. “Maybe that heightened scrutiny doesn't allow them to hire whoever is more likely to make a mistake. So this is really about elevating the standard of how we're taking care of our buildings.”
Tagged
Politics
buildings
landlords
new york city
public safety
bronx
City Council
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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