Mayor Dismisses Idea of D.C. Help on Construction Safety
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Congress should stay out of New York City’s hair when it comes to safeguarding construction sites, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
Mr. Bloomberg’s remarks came in response to a question from a reporter regarding a letter Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes the site of the most recent crane collapse, sent to the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Washington, D.C. In it, Ms. Maloney requested that OSHA investigate safety standards at sites where cranes are used.
Mr. Bloomberg suggested that requests for federal oversight could make the city’s investigations into the issue more difficult.
“I appreciate the intent, but it’s tough enough within the city to do an investigation and to make progress in terms of making this city safer and growing,” he said at a press conference in Times Square. “Congress has lots of things to do at a national and international level, and I think that’s probably as good a use of their time as you can find.”
Mr. Bloomberg cited health care policy, international relations, tax policy, and fixing Social Security as matters that Congress should address.
“If they spend their time on that, we’ll spend our time on investigating a tragic accident which we’ll find out where we could have prevented,” he said.
Speaker Christine Quinn did not dismiss Ms. Maloney’s plan yesterday, but said her current agenda was to pass legislation that she and Mr. Bloomberg announced earlier this week designed to tighten safety standards at construction sites.
“Our main focus right now are the things that are under our control and we’re going to move as quickly as we can to get that package moved forward,” Ms. Quinn said.
Previous high-profile collaborations between the federal and city government on construction sites have sometimes provoked criticism. Editorial pages and politicians have often decried the slow pace and safety record on the Deutsche Bank’s planned demolition in Lower Manhattan, which is being headed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The abandoned building was the site of a fatal fire last August that killed two firefighters.
