LET'S ASK FOR A MORATORIUM ON ALL NEW BROOKLYN BUILDING

Scarano Horror Looming In Carroll Gardens


Architect Robert Scarano
(photo credit: The Real Deal, November 2007)

Ms. Patricia Lancaster, Commissioner, Buildings Department

(Photo Credit: www.nyc.gov)

I am fuming mad and you will know why after reading the article below. For the last couple of years, Carroll Gardeners, decent, hard-working people, have had to fight to keep rogue architects from destroying their low-density brownstone neighborhood. Attending meetings at night, when they should be home with their families, calling 311 (the gripe line) to report unsafe building conditions and last but not least, asking local politicians (to no avail) to stand up for the neighborhood by helping to down-zone.
Busy work! A waste of time! Why? Because in back rooms, the Buildings Department makes deals with architects who push the envelope in any way they can. The article which appeared this Sunday in the Daily News illustrates how dysfunctional the NYC Department of Buildings is. Or maybe I should rephrase this: it illustrates how the Department of Buildings pushes the envelope in favor of unscrupulous architects and builders in order to fulfill Mayor Bloomberg's mandate of turning every inch of New York City into high-priced, high-rise condos. Shame on them all.
C.O.R.D. (Carroll Gardens Coalition For Respectful Development) has been pushing for a moratorium on new construction in Carroll Gardens until the neighborhood can be landmarked or down-zoned. That's a great idea.
Pardon me for asking, but why not ask for a moratorium on all building here in Brooklyn until the Department of Buildings is re-organized, made functional and more importantly made less corrupt? Lets just say "no new issuing of permits" until Commissioner Patricia Lancaster is fired and architects like Robert Scarano don't get license to blatantly disregard existing codes.
Let's never forget that people like Commissioner Lancaster and politicians work for us, the citizens of New York. They get paid with our taxpayer's money, which in my book makes them our employees. We have rights. So lets use them.
Lets tell them:

NO NEW BUILDING PERMITS IN BROOKLYN UNTIL YOU CLEAN UP THIS MESS, MAYOR BLOOMBERG!

Building's Chief Hid Architect's Mistake
Daily News December 9th, 2008
By Brian Kates

The top official responsible for enforcing building standards in the city signed secrecy agreements to hide a series of blunders that led to death and building evacuations.

Patricia Lancaster, the $162,800-a-year buildings commissioner, hid the mistakes made by architect Robert Scarano.

Lancaster - also an architect - signed an unusual stipulation promising not to report the alleged misdeeds of Scarano to "any regulatory agency," including one that could revoke his license.

The charges involve 32 properties, mostly in Brooklyn, and include alleged carelessness that resulted in the death of a construction worker and a screwup that forced a Brooklyn family to evacuate its unsafe home.

Lancaster hid a charge that Scarano signed off on unsafe conditions at a Brooklyn site where construction worker Anthony Duncan Sr. was crushed to death in a March 2006 building collapse.

The victim's family is outraged about Lancaster's actions.

"If they are not going to pursue Scarano to the fullest extent, then who are they going to pursue?" asked Duncan's son, Anthony Jr. "It's like they're laughing in my face ... Scarano is still working, but my father is dead." (continue reading here)

Building Chief Hid Architect's Mistake (Daily New)
Brooklyn homeowner: Buildings commissioner should face charges (Daily News)
Scarano pointing the finger back (The Real Deal)


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