New York Law Blog

With the outbreak of fatal construction accidents across New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has chosen someone to fill the post of buildings commissioner after City Council downgraded the qualifications for the position. The New York Times had a brief write up on the new appointee, and since this is such a critical issue at this time in the city, I thought I’d highlight the entire article here.

Less than 24 hours after the City Council approved a bill downgrading the qualification requirements for buildings commissioner, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Friday that he intended to appoint Robert D. LiMandri to the post.

The mayor said that Mr. LiMandri, a 19-year veteran of the real estate industry and the acting buildings commissioner since April, would modernize the department, oversee an expanded cadre of inspectors and crack down on safety violations plaguing the city’s construction sites.

“Bob LiMandri is innovative, tough, and without any doubt, the most qualified person to lead the New York City Department of Buildings into a new era,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

The mayor will formally appoint Mr. LiMandri after he signs the bill changing the requirements for the job. But professional societies of architects and engineers bitterly opposed the dilution of qualifications and may yet bring a suit to block the changes.

“We regret that an issue regarding public safety was treated in such a cavalier fashion,” said Fredric Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Since 1968, city law has required that the buildings commissioner be a licensed architect or engineer. But Mayor Bloomberg insisted that he needed more flexibility to find someone who was both a talented manager and familiar with technical issues.

The new legislation requires that either the commissioner or first deputy commissioner be licensed. Mr. LiMandri has an engineering degree but no license.

The professional societies said that they had no quarrel with Mr. LiMandri, but that architects and engineers who went through the arduous licensing process necessarily acquired a comprehensive understanding of zoning codes and building practices.

Is this the right appointment by Mayor Bloomberg? Or will construction accidents still be a problem in New York City?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Other resources, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.