Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson explains the importance of DOB funding after partial building collapse
NEW YORK - It's been a month and a half since the corner of a seven-story building in the Bronx collapsed, leaving dozens of residents without their homes. There's questions surrounding the disrepair of the building and how widespread of an issue this could be in the borough.
"What we saw was pure chaos," said Vanessa Gibson, the Bronx Borough President.
When part of 1915 Billingsley Terrace collapsed on Dec. 11, residents scrambled for their lives. Many are able to recount the moments that led up to it.
"Big rocks start falling down, then the whole building just fell down in, like, a second," said one man.
Officials say it's a miracle no one died or was trapped in the debris. But what led up to the shocking collapse was a series of systemic errors made by an engineer. Residents told CBS New York they even complained of cracks and their ceilings falling, saying the writing was on the wall.
"He misdiagnosed the exterior work that was being done on the building from decorative to actual structural, which is a big difference. Because of that, all the work that followed was based on that misdiagnosis of the work that's being done," said Gibson.
Gibson is sounding the alarm to not only have more checks and balances in place, but for the city to understand the value of the Department of Buildings before it decides on budget cuts for the next fiscal year.
"We cannot talk about public safety and making sure that New Yorkers fundamentally feel safe without including the Department of Buildings," she said.
Our CBS New York Investigative Team discovered other buildings in the Bronx owned by the same landlord where the collapse happened. Residents there also show us cracking in their units.
"The Department of Buildings has recognized the importance of going back and overseeing and double-checking all of the work of this particular owner," said Gibson.
"Maybe six years ago, the bricks from the roof were falling down," said resident Ana Noa.
Nearly 36% of all buildings on the Public Advocate's 2023 Landlord Watchlist are in the Bronx. Gibson explains cutting positions at DOB will only hurt the safety of residents in the borough.
"We have to make sure the DOB is sufficiently funded when it comes to staffing and resources," she said. "We don't want to wait until the next collapse for us to get it right."
The mayor will formally unveil a budget for the next fiscal year in the spring. In November, the mayor's Program to Eliminate the Gap indicted a plan to eliminate 117 vacant DOB positions rather than filling them.
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