“…council members were appalled at the staffing decision in the wake of recent tragedies.”
NY Post
By Haley Brown
Published May 15, 2024
The city Buildings Department has eliminated a quarter of its budgeted workforce since 2022 — and many of the jobs were held by inspectors who are supposed to identify issues with structures before a potential collapse.
The troubling revelation surfaced Tuesday during a meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings — and panel Chairwoman Pierina Ana Sanchez said data shows that the DOB is falling behind in identifying problematic buildings as the number of inspectors falls.
“We see the impact,’’ she said.
In the first four months of this year, the DOB issued 2,225 stop-work orders — a 36 percent decrease from the same period in 2023.