Department of Buildings Triathlon, Event 2: 311 Calling

Called 311 to complain about a construction-related problem--say, illegal after-hours work--lately? Some of GL's readers have, and the results are not heartening. There were a number of comments yesterday in our item about people getting frustrated with making complaints to the Department of Buildings. We believe they are indicative of some, uh, problems with both the system and a critical city agency. We have literally seen and heard of problems hundreds of times in Brooklyn in the last 12 months.

Here are a few noteworthy stories, as related in yesterday's comments:

Its true, the turnaround time is horrible. there should be an on-staff DOB person that handles all calls, similar to police. An inspector that goes out and responds to night calls that night or within 24 hours. SL Green was doing demo from 7pm to 1am everyday behind my apartment. I called and called. Took 6 business days for a response. (which seems to be the typical length of time). They were still doing it during that time period however every time they supposedly did a night visit, 'nothing was found'. they had dust and debris pouring out of the building. Its was so obvious. I think the inspectors dont want to do paperwork or even a site visit, so they say they went and really didnt.

And there's this:

the DOB takes too long to respond. Point blank. If someone is doing construction, the response time is min 6 business days. Even then, they usually "find nothing" which I believe is a cop out for "i didnt visit the site or want to do paperwork, so i 'found nothing'". They are understaff and underqualified. the whole dept needs an overhaul.

And this:

I"ve complained about after hours construction at 530 3rd Ave 3 times. Once they didn't even file the complaint. For the complaints I filed on the 15th and 16th, they sent somebody out on May 28th!

Awesome. The system works.

One senses a problem experienced by many Brooklyn residents.

Related Posts:
Department of Buildings Triathlon, Event 1: Stop Work High Jump
Department of Buildings Triathlon, Event 3: Late Night Concrete Pour