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REMARKS
Reinstitution of systematic reinspections for Class 1 violations
4:08:21
ยท
175 sec
Commissioner James Oddo emphasizes the importance of reinstating systematic reinspections for Class 1 (most hazardous) violations, which had been discontinued due to budget cuts.
- Class 1 violations are the most serious issued by the department
- A dedicated unit will now continuously reinspect locations with these violations
- This process aims to ensure serious conditions are addressed before potential building failures
- The initiative may require additional legislative support to hold bad actors accountable
- DOB is exploring partnerships with entrepreneurs who use data analytics to identify high-risk locations
James "Jimmy" S. Oddo
4:08:21
Madam Chair, if I could just add and start with the last point that you guys just made.
4:08:25
I think it's part of this project ESPO that that doesn't get as much shine as other parts, but it's critically important.
4:08:32
Think think about what he just said.
4:08:34
The class one hazardous violations are the most serious ones the department issues.
4:08:40
And there was a period of time where we had a unit within the agency that would systematically, continuously go and reinspect those most serious violations.
4:08:51
That had to end because of budget cuts years ago.
4:08:54
We are reinstituting that process.
4:08:56
So now this our team has a universe.
4:09:00
We know where they are and we will continue to go out, inspect those locations until we've exhausted that universe.
4:09:08
Hopefully, we will find conditions repaired.
4:09:11
Hopefully, we don't find serious conditions.
4:09:15
But if we do, we now have found it before the corner of a building has come down.
4:09:20
So that's a component of this initiative again that that that your fingerprints are on that that is outstanding.
4:09:27
Second point I wanted to make is once we've ide ID'd sort of the worst of the worst, we might need counsel help.
4:09:36
We've had this conversation as as the deputy commission just alluded to.
4:09:40
So you have licensees.
4:09:41
Well, what can we do to those licensees to hold them accountable?
4:09:44
You have contractors.
4:09:46
What can we do to general contractors to hold them accountable?
4:09:50
Owners, is there more that we can do?
4:09:52
So we need to come back to you or work with you and partner with you again to figure out once we've ID'd this universe, these are the worst of the worst, what else, what other tools can we have to hold them accountable?
4:10:07
And and lastly, the deputy commissioner Shamash's team, again, not fully staffed up yet, but out in the field working off of DOB now data.
4:10:20
What we've learned through the building tech lab process is there are entrepreneurs out there with some incredible products to take data and do their own proprietary formulations and spit out a list of what they deem locations to look at.
4:10:41
And that's really exciting to us.
4:10:43
We are using our own data which is plentiful as the deputy commissioner Saracas once said like we we barely scraped the pile of DOB Now data.
4:10:53
But there are entrepreneurs out there who are sort of on the cutting edge.
4:10:59
And and maybe through this building tech lab process, we can add that to our our portfolio.
4:11:07
Lastly, we promised you just a quick update from deputy commissioner Sanabria on the hiring efforts of the 60.