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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 95, no. 2449: Articles]: February 20, 1915

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REAL ESTATE BUILDERS AND NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 20, 1915 ■n llllllillllBlllilllllllllllH^^ TWO REPORTS ON BUILDING INSPECTION The Majority of the Mayor's Committee Advise that the Estimate Board Should Regroup the Departments—Minority Report Favors Borough Plan iiiiiiM ......llgilMMIiiiilMlliMM^^^ A PPOINTED to devise a plan for *^ the amalgamation of building in¬ spection departments in this city that would provide a basis for co-ordinating and harmonizing divergent views, the Mayor's committee composed of Messrs. Allan Robinson, Robert E. Smion, Law¬ rence Veiller, Peter J. Brady, AUred T. White and Wilham H. Childs, has made a report, which is signed by hve ot the six members. There is also a minor¬ ity report, which is signed by a single member, Robert E. Simon, who is chair¬ man ot the Conierence Committee of the Allied Associations; and there is also an exception taken to the majority report by Mr. Brady. As everybody understands, the need of unitying or consolidating the depart¬ ments nad been conceded, ihe real mis¬ sion of the committee was to hnd an agreeable way of doing it. There has been a division of opinion whether there should be just one centralized depart¬ ment or one department tor each bor¬ ough; whether the Tenement House Ue- partment should be included in the grouping or left alone; whether the State i-abor Department's duties in this city should be taken over or left alone, and whether the Fire Prevention Bureau should be taken over or left alone. The majority report does not under¬ take to say whether the "borough plan" or the "city plan" should be loUowed, but it does conhrm the need of combin¬ ing bureaus and departments, it re¬ commends that the iioard of Estimate be empowered by an enabling act and charged with the duty of "regrouping" and "readjusting" all existing lunctions of the city and borough departments with respect to building inspection, in other words, the responsibility is put up to the Board of Estimate. The majority report favors regrouping the following departments; Police, Fire, Tenement House, Health, Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, Public Works, De¬ partment of Licenses, the five Bureaus of Buildings and the State Department of Labor. Mr. Brady's exception is simply to the eflect that he is not in favor of including the Labor Depart¬ ment, as the State Federation of Labor is on record against it. Text of the Majority Report. The majority report says: We do not mean to suggest that there is overlapping of jurisdiction or conflict of authority with regard to all these de¬ partments, but any plan for the simplifi¬ cation of building inspection would be in¬ complete which did not consider the jurisdiction of all the departments or bureaus above set forth. The committee has been deeply im¬ pressed with the fact that the questions involved are primarily administrative, not legislative, and we have been chiefly in¬ fluenced in our recommendations by that consideration. The committee has also been deeply impressed with the difficulties attending the drafting of any piece of legislation prepared hurriedly to adjust the present ALLAN ROBINSON. Chairman Mayor's Committee. difficulties, in view of the serious danger that might arise from decreasing the ef¬ ficiency of city government, increasing the expense of such government, and working possible and unnecessary hard¬ ships to property interests. We are also impressed with the fact that the changes to be made in the juris¬ diction of the various branches of the city and State governments should not be made all at one time, for in doing so there is serious danger of confusion and of loss of efficiency. In order to bring about a simplification of the present methods of government relative to in¬ spection of buildings in this city, we rec¬ ommend the following: A simple enabling Act either in the form of an amendment to the Charter or a new statute, empowering the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to combine before January 1, 1916, the various bu¬ reaus of various boroughs or city de¬ partments that have to do with inspec¬ tion of buildings, regroup them in de¬ partments different from ones they are now in, to abolish some, if necessary, to give to the newly combined or newly es¬ tablished bureaus the same powers and responsibilities that now attach to exist¬ ing bureaus. In a word, to regroup and readjust all existing functions of the city or borough departments with regard to building inspection. The bill should be a very simple one. Another bill should give the Board of Estimate and Apportionment power to place in control of city departments the functions now exercised by the State De¬ partment of Labor in so far as they re¬ late to the construction or alteration of buildings. The bills should safeguard existing rights and causes of action, and should make it clear beyond any peradventure of doubt that the powers conferred upon the Board of Estimate and Apportion¬ ment supersede all powers hitherto con¬ ferred upon various city departments and the Stat£ Department of Labor in these respects, whether contained in the Charter or in any statute. Your committee conferred with the New York State Factory Investigating Commission and discussed with them the proposed plan which is outlined here, and requested them, if they saw fit, to recom¬ mend the same in their report. This plan is in line with the princi¬ ple of home rule and government of the City of New York. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the city represents the entire city and all its cit¬ izens and taxpayers, and is in close touch not only with the people of the city and their sentiments and desires, but with the administration and working of the vari¬ ous city departments and is in a better position than the Legislature, which must act through a committee and act during a legislative session, to properly devise ways, means and methods to do away with any unnecessary inspection or hardship in the enforcement of the laws referred to. Respectfully, Mayor's Building Inspection Committee, Lawrence Veiller, Peter J. Brady, Alfred T. White, William H. Childs, Allan Robinson. The Minority Report. The minority report to Mayor Mitchel signed by Robert E. Simon, contained the following: "As a member of the committee which you appointed to consider and, if possible, reconcile the plans suggested for simplifying inspection of construc¬ tion and alteration of buildings in this city, it IS with great difhdence and sin¬ cere regret that 1 feel constrained to submit lor your consideration this min¬ ority report. "It is only my thorough knowledge of the intolerable conditions as they now exist; the fact that it is the unanimous opinion of all familiar with the subject that prompt relief should be granted; the evil consequences of unnecessary de¬ lay and the fact that the majority re¬ port does not give the information for which you asked, that gives me the cour¬ age to dissent from the action of my colleagues on the committee. "When you asked us to investigate the remedies suggested I was willing to devote the time necessary to get at the facts and weigh the advantages and dis¬ advantages of the plans proposed; to endorse either if the facts warranted, or to make every effort to devise a third plan which would reconcile the two points of view. "There were two plans: one to create a single department under control of the Mayor, known as the 'Central Plan/ the other to consolidate such part of the functions of existing Bureaus and De¬ partments having to do with construc¬ tion, in^o the present Building Depart¬ ments as now constituted under the jurisdiction of the Borough Presidents, known as the 'Borough Plan.* "Your committee held two public hearings, one of which against my pro-