>     Caller  complaints lack of permits, lack of listed permit, work
>     after hours  – 99% unsubstantiated claims and when the important
>     call came seems to me like no one took it seriously anymore. I
>     just wonder how many times you can call DOB, DOT just to keep busy
>     police and DOB squads, knowing that the work will be continued
>     anyway because serious money are involved and city is eager to
>     start its collections. The inspectors instead to do their job,
>     which is public safety are just run around to be a nuisance in
>     service of unfulfilled neighbors.
>
I agree with Ralph that the City is not so much motivated to speed a 
project intent on collections, they already have collections for one 
thing, the other is that there is just too damned much going on in the 
City for it to keep track of much of anything in any conscious manner. I 
would also say that the majority of DOB employees, and inspectors, are 
dedicated, and frustrated people that wake up wanting to do a decent job 
of it. Frustrated because the beast of the City is so large, diverse, 
and happening all over the place and they are small pieces in a very big 
organism that is going to do what it does. Granted there is always 
corruption somewhere, but it is not anywhere near as prevalent on the 
street as it used to be.

That said, on non-union project last year the union outfit down the 
street had a habit of coming over to the project and tearing down the 
permits posted by the GC and then calling the local police precinct. The 
police would show up and even though the project had ALL of the required 
permits the permits were not posted, since they had been 
stolen/vandalized, and the police had to do something with their time 
and would issue citations to anyone in the vicinity, including the 
contractor on the adjacent building for having their dumpster over a 
previously unrecognized line... the contractor on the neighboring 
building did not get the summons, the GC whose dumpster it was not -- 
they got the summons. Then there was the lady across the street that did 
not want the project to happen and she kept calling the police as well. 
Working in the city always has neighbors and public presence and it is 
not unusual, or an unfounded concern of contractors to ask, "Do you all 
get along with your neighbors?" We had one project where the neighbors 
were pissed at the owner and they kept throwing rocks at us as we 
worked. What bothers me, usually, is that when that question is asked 
about the neighbors if they are friendly it is usually answered with a 
statement to the effect that nobody knows and/or it is the problem of 
the contractor.

Really nice to see the sequence. I have been looking at the shots on the 
television and could not figure out if it was actually a crane or an 
elevator. I can imagine the press confusing an elevator with a crane.

As to the developer, what will hurt for them is that now there will be a 
delay. One comment I heard was that the GC was not to blame as they had 
subcontracted the crane. Nice to say that but when the lawsuits begin it 
will go to whomever has the deepest pockets and the least fight to 
defend themselves. I would not be surprised if this incident is still in 
the courts 10 years from now.

Moral of the story: stay away from FUBAR.

wodka is wodka
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