Unlike the Staten Island politicians and developers who are upset to see Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster go, Queens City Councilman Tony Avella, a 2009 candidate for mayor, issued a statement yesterday calling her resignation "much needed and long overdue." "While I thank her for her efforts to reform the Building Code, her administration was riddled with sheer incompetence and an absolute neglect of building construction and safety enforcement issues," Avella said in the statement.
He had originally called for Ms. Lancaster's resignation in January, and reiterated his call last week after she told a City Council committee that a high-rise building on East 51st Street that was the site of a fatal crane collapse last month should never have been approved.
"It was clear that under Lancaster's tenure, DOB was an agency in total chaos," he added. "Whether it was a high-rise or low-density construction, enforcement and oversight simply did not occur. DOB's main mission to ensure the safe and lawful use of buildings and properties under the building and zoning code had been subverted in a mad dash for more construction - and construction at any cost."
