http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/building-inspectors-surrender-cops-bribery-scheme-article-1.2109403
Nearly 50 city building inspectors and construction contractors — some with alleged mob ties —turned themselves in Tuesday as part of scheme in which builders paid off city employees to fast-track projects. Inspectors also routinely took cash to overlook building code violations, authorities said.
More at the above link.
So, what's the betting that some of this isn't going on in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village?
Fumigate, fumigate, fumigate!!!
(Hat tip to Edmund's post at the TA Facebook page.)
Heard this on the news on WQXR this morning. I guess that department wasn't really cleaned up the last time around.
ReplyDeleteIs that Dan G in the hoodie?
ReplyDeleteHow shocking!..NOT!
ReplyDeleteJust small, small fish.
Now what I really want to see is Tishman Speyer, CW Capital and Compass Cock bigwigs being led off in chains.
They are the real THIEVES and PLUNDERERS in this city.
I want to see the assholes who gave the go-ahead to the management bunker.
ReplyDeleteThere better be more arrests to come.
ReplyDelete“In all the cases, the actions disadvantaged and harmed tenants in all the buildings, and the public’s confidence in local government,” said Vance, whose office determined 106 properties were involved, totaling $450,000 in alleged bribes.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/02/8562028/vance-indicts-dozens-building-bribe-scheme
The people in PCVST are disadvantaged and harmed by the DOB's work here too and we've ZERO confidence in the DOB to keep us safe from harm and are 100% certain the same bad acts - including shifty shady permits - from the Office construction and that sham DOB CWCRTA Dan meeting occurred in all the construction in PCVST. The Commissioner LiMandri DOB failed the PCVST community and property. Does anyone remember the name of the DOB person who shoveled the BS at tenants at that office construction DOB CWCRTA Dan meeting?
Vance indicated that Tuesday’s arrests were just the first phase of an ongoing investigation into real estate and construction corruption.
ReplyDelete“I can’t promise that there will be other criminal charges, but I would expect that we will be conducting an ongoing criminal investigation for some time,” Vance said.
PCVST needs a thorough audit and investigation on all the shady permits, work without permits, expedited permits, highly questionably dismissed permits, on all the construction here. As well as an audit and investigation on all the construction work and all the paper work with all the city agencies that are run by REBNY chosen Commissioners ..
Press Release from Cy Vance's Office with names, criminal complaints, and map of DOB and DHP buildings involved.
ReplyDeletehttp://manhattanda.org/press-release/manhattan-da%E2%80%99s-office-doi-nypd-announce-arrests-and-criminal-charges-widespread-briber
Thank you Cy Vance!
This De Blasio affordable housing / luxury condo rush to build and large number of constructions only serves the business developers and wealthy. De Blasio is creating housing for the very wealthy who may stop by and for the very poor to clean the condos and serve the very wealthy. There is less than zero housing for the middle class as they are taking away what little we already have.
ReplyDeleteDe Blasio and Glen are treating us New Yorkers as human capital, not human beings. In a De Blasio Glen NYC, citizens are a workforce for the international wealthy, to be warehoused in dense apartments while the wealthy live in spacious sky high condos.
Glen / De Blasio are building a Tale of Two Cities.
"Another alleged scheme involved illicit payments to city officials in return for falsifying city documents or lifting violations"
ReplyDeletehttp://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/new-yorks-building-horror-stories/
“Unfortunately,” Mr. Vance said, “we do have to keep cycling back.”
ReplyDeletePerhaps stronger punishments that better suit the crimes would lessen the need to circle back as often. The people of NYC need Cy Vance to keep vigilant and circle back AND give these guys due punishment. Those who "vacated tenants" stealing the sanctity and safety of their homes should have their own homes vacated, taken, and their liberty too for committing the act.
Beautiful, thoughtful architecture destroyed for a generic high rise apartment building.
ReplyDelete50 years ago, NYC lost one of its grandest mansions
Its destruction led in part to the creation of NYC's landmarks law
February 07, 2015 04:00PM
- See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/02/07/50-years-ago-nyc-lost-one-of-its-grandest-mansions/#sthash.2gwnxEEO.dpuf
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/02/07/50-years-ago-nyc-lost-one-of-its-grandest-mansions/
This landmark mansion could have been a museum or a school for children to learn or artists studios or many other far better uses then demolition and generic architecture high rise apartment.
REBNY recently declared war on many landmark buildings to build sky high money laundering housing. I agree with the commentator the money laundering housing plan is a terrible in-your-face taunt to the world's terrorists and an in-your-face reminder of inequality in New York City.
Just woke up and surprise NO HEAT!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI want to see the assholes who gave the go-ahead to the management bunker.
February 10, 2015 at 9:04 PM
AGREE!
THIS PLACE SUCKS, PERIOD!
ReplyDeleteFANTASTIC! Nice work Cy!
ReplyDeleteCuomo isn't the only governor declaring war on the Middle Class. Illinois governor one upped Cuomo's plan to take your car, your means to get to work and pay your taxes, if you owe $5000 in taxes.
ReplyDeleteWho is worse - NY or Illinois
One of (Governor) Rauner's companies, Trans Healthcare Inc., owned over 200 nursing homes. The firm had judgments issued against it for over $2 billion for patient neglect. Rather than fix the problems and pay the claims, Rauner's investment firm sold Trans Healthcare to a company that then declared bankruptcy and dodged paying the claims of the abused residents.
Now that he is governor, Rauner has proposed draconian limits on the collective bargaining rights of unions representing state employees, cutting back on their pay, prohibiting workers from being able to negotiate over wages and benefits, and transferring all future state pension benefits into risky 401(k) plans.
And he has declared war on middle class state employee salaries.
Rauner brazenly claims that state employees' average wage of $64,000 per year is simply too high. This from a man who makes $64,000 in two and a half hours.
To justify his claims, Rauner argues that many state employees make more than their counterparts in the private sector or surrounding states. For instance, he claims that Illinois state highway workers make $49,000 per year, which he says is more than the $36,000 average paid to state highway workers in five neighboring states.
That's right, a guy who last year made $25,000 an hour speculating and flying around on a corporate jet, is furious that someone who works 40 hours a week pouring concrete, laying hot asphalt and fixing potholes -- serious physical work -- makes as much all year as he does in two hours.
Early in the GOP primary, Rauner made it clear that he wanted to reduce Illinois' minimum wage -- and at one point even indicated he wanted it abolished entirely. Yet last year Rauner himself made more than $25,000 per hour -- fifty-two million dollars per year. That's right, he made more than an average minimum wage worker makes all year long in less than the first hour of the first day of the year.
Rauner is a hybrid of the worst traits of Mitt Romney and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. In fact, you could say he personally embodies the reason why -- even though our economy has grown 77% in the last 35 years -- the wages of ordinary Americans have been stagnant or actually declined.
ReplyDelete"Now it's time to spread the word across America: beware of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. He personally embodies the War on the Middle Class."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/meet-il-governor-bruce-ra_b_6652068.html
No more pols using their offices for business deals and hurting the people.
No to 421a in its entirety!
The big developers do it too yet none of those were arrested.....we are waiting.....
ReplyDeletecalling it "vacating a tenant" is oversimplifying the disruptive, destructive, livelihood-stealing crime.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise. This happens to me most of the time. Slumlords.
ReplyDelete"Just woke up and surprise NO HEAT!"
ReplyDeleteWe had no heat all morning, even though the outside temperature was 23 degrees. Anemic heat came on about an hour ago. This is a deliberate pattern of harassment against tenants, especially the elderly who are likely to be home during the daytime. This "management" is a bunch of evil BASTARDS.
I am banned from TA website and Facebook page for asking simple questions they didn't like. No big deal as I could not care less about their BS. Can't imagine ED saying anything that isn't pro TA though. If he did I would have to see it to believe it.
ReplyDeleteThey must be sending your heat to my apartment. I have to keep almost all of my windows open all winter long.
ReplyDeleteThere have to be a lot more arrests. Surely this is the tip of the iceberg.
ReplyDeleteHE'S OUTTA HERE
ReplyDeleteThe "expediter" hired by developers to make sure work was completed without interference from the city is an ex-con who has been on the lam for three months.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/expeditor-allegedly-bribed-dob-employees-lam-article-1.2110745
A WEIRD COMMUTE
In one case, beginning in September 2011, David Weiszer, an unregistered expediter, sent a list of buildings owned by his clients on an almost daily basis to Gordon Holder, then chief of development for Brooklyn construction, prosecutors said. Mr. Holder, who resigned from the department last year, expedited inspections and ensured that they would be favorable, they said.
In return, Mr. Weiszer paid him around $200,000 in bribes, prosecutors said, and even moved into a house across the street from Mr. Holder in Pennsylvania and drove him four hours to and from work every day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/nyregion/new-york-city-buildings-inspectors-charged-with-bribery.html
IT GETS CRUEL
Playing out across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, the schemes involved synagogues, residential properties and landmark bars, including Jack Demsey’s Bar and Grill and McHale’s Pub. Those two bars, in Manhattan, are owned by Frank Dwyer, who is accused of paying for a summer course for the daughter of Donald O’Connor, the chief of development for Manhattan construction. In exchange, prosecutors said, Mr. O’Connor removed violations and helped Mr. Dwyer secure last-minute appointments.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
In another case, Mr. O’Connor is charged with helping a contractor hide from city oversight after a worker fell from an elevated steel beam on a job site. Mr. O’Connor advised the contractor not to call an ambulance, even though the worker could not move, because that could invite questions about safety on the site, the authorities say.
A convicted arsonist
ReplyDelete"Today's cases unfortunately are harbingers of other potential casualties of the current housing boom -- tenant safety and government integrity," Vance said.
In one scheme, David Weiszer, an unregistered expeditor and convicted arsonist, bribed a DOB chief of construction development in Brooklyn, an inspector and three clerks, Vance said.
The DOB schemes and the court papers
ReplyDeletehttp://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/six_staten_islanders_among_50.html
The owners of those buildings and bars should go to prison, as well as the crooks they bribed.
ReplyDelete"I am banned from TA website and Facebook page for asking simple questions they didn't like. No big deal as I could not care less about their BS. Can't imagine ED saying anything that isn't pro TA though. If he did I would have to see it to believe it."
ReplyDeleteHow can you be banned from their website? Isn't it in the public domain? I didn't think you could comment on their website, but I know they can ban you from commenting on the facebook page. They are really no better than management when it comes to free speech and questioning the status quo.
No heat all day today. Emails to property manager and calls to the office all ignored. Maybe Campus Cock finds it more cost effective to pay the HPD fines (or pay off the inspectors) than to provide heat.
ReplyDeleteWhat a SHITHOLE!!!
The DOB has zero credibility. Dan / TAboard / CWCR using the DOB at the management office construction meeting as an authority was a highly unbelievable load of crap. It was an idiotic joke of a staged meeting. The construction is wrought with problems and that is putting it lightly.
ReplyDeleteJudge rules Bloomberg era is over. Open space and public parks cannot be used for profit by restaurants, clubs, concerts.
ReplyDelete"In late December, a judge ordered that Lincoln Center could not renew IMG Fashion's sublease, nor could the city-owned Damrosch Park be used for future Fashion Weeks.
The decision marked a victory for New York City Park Advocates, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and Friends of Damrosch Park, which had fought for it to move since the event moved to Lincoln Center five years ago.
The groups claim IMG Fashion commandeered public space for private use and destroyed the park's the trees and plantings.
Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates, argued "the park belongs to the public" and that "restaurant owners may have been able to make public park policy during the Bloomberg administration, but thankfully that is not an issue here anymore."
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150212/upper-west-side/fashion-week-leaving-lincoln-center-means-loss-of-millions-for-eateries
Open space and public parks are not Places for Commercial Marketing Events. Keep business in business venues. This is NYC - there are plenty business venues!
I wasn't aware of that decision. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteThe once beautiful tree, grass and flower filled dual walk ways public open space is now an off-limits-to-tenants office building courtesy of greasy greased DOB.
ReplyDeleteI would be leary of any of the staff here that accepts tips. Lived here for years and our porter is nice, helpful , always has a smile and does not expect tips.
ReplyDeleteHe is a happy guy I believe and happy to have work.
I try to tip on the holidays. Not a problem for me.
ReplyDeletePostal workers are forbidden to accept tips yet I have always tipped my postal worker just as I have tipped my porter for the last 40 years. I think he deserves it and I will continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteWould you tip the nasty porter who is crude to women and children also? I would not. Our porter works from 8:30 to 4 pm. Is not very busy ,to be honest and has plenty of time and chats on cellphone most of the day. He mops the lobby floor over and over and over and it's constantly wet and slippery-accident waiting to happen. He has told tenants he has little else to do.
ReplyDeleteNo, don't tip a nasty unhelpful porter.
ReplyDeleteE-V-E-R
The guys arrested here are allowed to keep on with construction work. The guy arrested for bribery was working at yesterday's building collapse sight. No charges have been filed but it raises some red flags that need to be addressed in the DOB and Housing Code city process and procedure. The biggest red flag is how easy it is for these guys to bribe the DOB, REBNY must be rethinking the big amount they spend at DOB when all it takes is $600....
ReplyDelete"Kukic, 39, allegedly paid $600 to fix housing code violations at two buildings he owned in Upper Manhattan."
http://nypost.com/2015/03/27/nyc-contractor-probed-in-massive-east-village-gas-explosion/
DOB still failing NYC
ReplyDeleteFour workers hospitalized in demo for 1 Vanderbilt, the latest in spate of accidents