New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-04
Law NEEDS AMENDING.
Tiolations 90 on in Many Buildings
Bet1ceen Inspectors Visits.

At a terrible cost the Darlington disaster
will in all probability be the means OF amend
ing the laws governing the Buildings Depart
ment so il will be able to protect the lives OF
worImen and the public at large Now that II
has become generally known that this depart
ment has power to compel work on build
ing to cease even when the inspectors know
the building is unsafe. the public will not toler-
ate the continuation OF such conditions The
extreme Of the departments powers is 10 shore
up the walls Of a building which is in danger
OF collapse. and then resort TO a lawsuit 10 COM
pei the builders 10 make it safe.
After examining Charles French. r.. one OF
the inspectors Of the Darlington. yesterday. Dis
trict Attorney Jerome declared that he believed
there were too few inspectors and that they
were undergrad French. he said. had district
from Thirty-fourth-st. TO Fifty-ninth-st and
from the East River TO the Hudson. 1t was
practically impossible for the inspector 10 get
around &c some jobs more than once n week.
and I'm the mean time many evaslons might have
gone into the work. To remain undetec;ed.
The inspector isn't to blame in such case"
said the District Attorney. He can't multiply
himself. There should be way arranged which
would permit the assigning Of an Inspector 10
each Job. 1t might be. even. that the city should
not have TO pay for these extra men. In some
condemnation proceedings the corporations pay
for the men. In the erection Of a 100000
hotel 1t might appear that the people owning IL
were sufficiently interested I'm its safety and the
safety OF the public 10 pay FOR the inspector who
should guarantee the thoroughness Of the work"
Ex-Justice Julius ". Mayer. who was counsel
20 the Buildings Department under the Strong
administration. declared that the Superintend-
ent Of Buildings should have summary power to
stop work if he deemed a structure unsafe.
said he:
The building law provides that In there shall
be. its opinion. actual and immediate danger OF
the falling Of any building. or part Thereof. so
10 endanger life or property the buildings Depart
ment shall cause the necessary work To be done
render the building temporarily safe until proper
This can be made even more effective by author
e-e9iion OF bufGing when IN his opln7oIP ~
building IS unsafe. although not Immediately iu
The point IS that.there is freqqentIy. difference
OF opinion as to WhetneT a ouiiidng rs unsafe or
vides for certain leal procedure. which necessarily
takes time. To remedy This difficulty the superin-
tendent OF Buildings could be intrusted with large
summary powers. IN view Of the fact that the
subject IS one in>olving pubic safety. Proper
saleguaTds I'd. eoaIs grT2gI ihe S eSeEese - Of this
charge the erection Of buildings may safely be
trusted to administ-r MS Office properly In this
gard, and not 20 abuse tho power given TO him.
Acting Superintendent German OF the BuiId-
ings Department said that the Darlington was
probably only one Of many cases where the con-
tractors had eyaded the law. having violations
fled against the building then delaying to COM
ply with the requirements. II certain. he
thought. that IN many cases the danger points
existed yet.
IF we could prove to a court that there a
radical defect In a building" said he. I'VE could
probably get an order TO tear II down. I don't
know that this has ever been done. however
The builder would argue that there couldn't be
much the matter because the building was
standing. and that would pretty effectually off,
set arguments. We don't know Of any case
where there is imminent danger. but I'm many
buildings there must have been minor viola
tons put through between visits OF in
spectors.
practically, our hands tied in the matter
II an inspector sees a violation on a tenement
house he may order work stopped Immediately,
and II his order is not complied with he may
appeal at once to the nearest policeman TO ar
rest the foreman in charge and order all work.
| men out Of the structure.
In buildings of other construction we must
| inform the owner his agent that the violation
has been filed against the building, and then. IL
| things are not remedied, must ask the Cor
/ poration Counsel to proceed against him In the
| courts for the procuring of injunction. An
| this takes so much time that opportunity is Of
| Tered for lodging the issue. We desire legisa-
/ ton which shall remedy this, but we cannot
/ get IL. The Tenement House law is entirely diff
ferent from the Buildings law. whereas there
/ should be no such difference in authority