Shocker: NYC Buildings Department Crane Inspector Took Bribes

Here's a shocker. Yet another New York City Buildings Department inspector has been indicted for taking bribes to look the other way instead of actually doing his job. In fact, this is the top crane inspector in the City, and while the reports indicate that his alleged criminal acts had no bearing on either of the recent crane accidents, it should make one question who exactly is inspecting buildings and cranes to ensure their safe operation and to keep New Yorkers safe from the kinds of accidents we've seen recently.

The man, James Delayo, 60, the acting chief inspector for the Cranes and Derricks Unit at the city’s Department of Buildings, oversaw the issuing of city licenses for crane operators. The case against him, announced by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation, was filed just a week after the city’s second fatal crane collapse in less than three months.

Officials said the accusations against Mr. Delayo bore no direct relation to the accident last week at 91st Street and First Avenue, where two workers died, or the crane accident on East 51st Street that left seven dead in March.

But the case was another blemish on a Buildings Department that has been reeling from construction deaths and inspection lapses this year, and for which deadly crane accidents are part of a lingering series of problems.

The agency’s commissioner resigned last month and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been struggling to find a replacement to run a department that has long been plagued by corruption and where critics say an underpaid, shorthanded staff of inspectors has been hard-pressed to deal with the city’s building boom.

In fact, Patricia Lancaster has turned up in the private sector, advising the Durst Organization on how to navigate the labyrinth of red tape relating to the new Building Code which went into effect this year:

"She was hired to help us understand the new city building code," said Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz.

Lancaster, a licensed architect, drafted the new code, the first overhaul in 40 years of the document that governs every aspect of construction in the city.

Her tumultuous six-year tenure was marked by a massive building boom and escalating construction deaths. She resigned in April, a month after seven people were killed in a crane collapse on E. 51st St.

Lancaster, who received an award Tuesday from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, would not respond to questions about the job.

She is prohibited by the City Charter from communicating with the Buildings Department for a year.

Wayne Hawley, general counsel to the city Conflicts of Interest Board, said Lancaster did not receive a waiver, meaning she either did not seek a ruling or that the board approved the job.

Confidentiality rules prohibit the board from revealing whether city employees seek a ruling.