Forum Reveals City Council To Seek DOB Improvements
By Melissa Favara

A public forum, hosted by City Council's Brooklyn delegation and its leader, Councilman Lew Fidler, were joined by several other elected officials on Monday night to discuss how to improve the Department of Buildings (DOB) and how it has (or hasn't) answered many valid concerns raised by tax-paying citizens. Others at the meeting, held at P.S. 207 on Fillmore Avenue in Marine Park, included Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden and City Council Minority Leader James Oddo of Staten Island.

Oddo opened the meeting by explaining "the Building's Department has been broken for a long time." His main objective is to "stop yelling at them and start working with them to get better."

Fidler and Golden also expressed a genuine desire to see an improvement rather than just talking about one.

"I see many communities represented here with many issues. It's important that we come together and that a change is brought about," Golden said.

Once the floor was open to the public, it was obvious that the biggest concern for residents is illegal construction and zoning resolutions. Not only are permits absent from work sites more times than not, one speaker said, "but additions to homes are often illegal."

Suggestions for improvement included more DOB inspectors and higher fines for lawbreakers.

"Large construction sites won't blink at a $200 fine but if it were a few thousand they might," one speaker pointed out.

The council members explained that the DOB needs help, but conceded that it's no excuse. There are many job vacancies at the Building's Department, which also had obsolete technology until recently.

The best thing they've done is getting the Web site up and running. Getting approximately 380,000 hits a day, the site proves people are hunting for answers and trying to reach out.

The meeting was smaller than expected and the council was criticized for not publicizing the event further. But those who showed up came with a purpose - to get things changed for the better and to see a difference.

Fidler said he does "not want to have the same meeting again in 20 years," so along with Oddo, Golden and their staffs, individual complaints were filed and promised to be followed up on by the NYC Council.

"A lot of people are as frustrated as you," Oddo told the audience.

By having these meetings, Oddo hopes "all of our voices can be heard."

Next month, another forum will be held in Manhattan. Council members said they spent six hours discussing the problems at hand at City Hall before Monday's meeting.

They said they hope to put a legislative package together that will address all of the troubles they hear at the public forums.