The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has reported on these “major disciplinary cases”.
- $230,000 in total penalties were issued to Jun Xiao Guo, the owner of 66-17 Austin Street, Queens, for a number of violations related to the illegal conversion of a legal three-family dwelling into 18 illegal Single Room Occupancy (SRO) dwellings throughout the building, including in the cellar. The owner was issued a total of 32 summonses for a variety of violating conditions including work without a permit, insufficient egress, and occupancy contrary to the Certificate of Occupancy (CO).
- $25,000 in penalties issued to Safety Registrant T.G. Nickel & Assoc. for failure to safeguard a construction site located at 1 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, after a worker was injured in a fall from the 16th floor of the construction site, onto uncapped rebar on the 15th floor.
- $25,000 in penalties issued to The George Units LLC, the owner of 111 Wadsworth Avenue, Manhattan, for failure to properly safeguard a public right of way after filing a Local Law 11 Façade Inspection Safety (FISP) Report that determined the exterior walls of the 32-story building were unsafe.
- Following an audit of professionally certified applications submitted by Professional Engineer Emanuel Katerinis, the Department found multiple false statements on eleven false filings for eight locations in which the engineer improperly proposed major changes to egress or the creation of habitable spaces in cellars under Alteration Type 2, Directive 14 applications. Following a trial at OATH, the Administrative Law Judge recommended a full ban on the engineer’s ability to submit filings to the Department. A Commissioner’s Order revoking all of the engineer’s DOB filing privileges was issued April 16, 2019.
